Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Graduation Turns On A New Switch -- We Go On A Date


























Ken’s graduation from Home Health Care was a stepping stone. I told him today that even though he was disappointed to miss the Therapy he was getting, graduation seemed to flip a switch in his brain back toward some state of normalcy.







He is now interested in going places and doing things. He loves the freedom of driving his car again and tonight for the first time since March, we went to the Gilcrease Jazz night.














So here goes my dialogue on what ole’ timers do on date nights.  I know I talked about this in my March blog, but bear with me one more time--I have not been out on a date for a while.






We both enjoy jazz and the musicians are local often ‘unknowns’ spreading their wings. At times there have been big Tulsa names who graduated from high school the same time that I did.  Even though you will see a few young people at these Jazz events, they attract the oldest generation. Retirement Centers bring in their residents in van loads.  The rest of us shufle in with our walkers and canes.  (OK, I'm being a bit too dramatic, I know.)    






One of the most fascinating things which I enjoy is watching old peole dance.  It appears they have been dancing all their lives and love every minute of it.
I love their smiles and always look forward to the regular 'real' dancers. Our favorites were not there tonight but it was still good.  I think Ken and I dance vicariously through the others.



The $5 buffet dinner is always pretty much the same: fruit tray, cheese tray, roll, tossed green salad with feta, cranraisens and pecans, two choices of some pasta dish of maybe chicken, beef or sometimes seafood, grilled veggies and bread pudding. Coffee and tea are included and there is a cash bar.  One suspects this occassion is designed for us ‘oldies’ because the event is from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm and the museum is open till 8:00 pm in case one wants to look around a bit as you hobble in and out. Tonight our table was next to the Red Hat Ladies and they were celebrating Cutiepie’s Birthday so I took a picture of her during the song.  Of course, you will recognize her by the 'purple hat and red dress.'



The interesting part is often meeting new people and getting to know a little about their lives during the music. Tonight we sat with the Vishers who have lived in Tulsa since the 1960’s. She did not talk much but he told us he had traveled the world, he is a geologists and taught all over the world for 25 years. But the hardest job he ever had was “raising three daughters.”


After the Vishers left at half time, the singer of the evening, Shelly (I think) sat at our table with what she intruduced as her three children.  We learned she had been a music teacher for eleven years at Northside Elementary in Broken Arrow and her children were former students she had found on Facebook.  So we learned about a few of their childhood experiences and there goals and dreams for the future.



Since we are out of our concert and it is still daylight, we usually take the scenic tour of downtown Tulsietown. There is so much construction in the downtown area that we came towards town on the back roads.  It was quite a beautiful view of  Tulsa's skyline.  Of course I had to add a few buildings such as the BOK and the remodeled Convention Center as well as the change on Main street and Bartlett Square.



 Tonight we included our first living quarters when we were married 53 years ago – a garage apartment off of Swan Lake. The home back then was owned by the Brown Family and now has been is disrepair. We were glad to see that someone is working on the home and upgrading the property.  So now the secret is out of what a date is like when you reach 72.

This upstairs, studio apartment rented for $50 a month in 1957.   It was really cute inside way back then....our honeymoon home.

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