Shock-Absorbed

There are those points in time when you discover something that totally shocks you. Last evening was one of them for me.

Donica and I had a 7p engagement in Midtown and planned ahead for our usual rendezvous halfway from her work at my former-former place of employment in Sandy Springs. It was my first stint in assisted living and still holds a place in my heart. We were a big family of +/- 20 residents with accompanying caregivers and staff. Several times in the past year-plus I had visited them and kept myself updated with their executive director. But I'd lost track since my recent German stint.

The first clue that something was dreadfully wrong was the blank, painted-over marquee on the side of the road. Then no cars in the parking lot. No sign of life anywhere. Yet, there was the outdoor furniture (some of which I had personally picked out) and the inside furniture and computers I could see through the windows.

It was eerie. I went up to the main door and found it locked, as I expected but wanted desperately to disbelieve. What happened? Where was everybody?

Within a couple hours I found out the place had been shut down at the end of May because of loss in revenue and the need for cost-prohibitive structural repair.

Those were my friends! Totally uprooted in their sunset years. Missing in action. Displaced. Transferred. God have mercy on them all. I love them. I want to know they're okay...as though they were my own parents....