Finally Full Circle

Last August 28, I declared that I had closed the book on a story that has lasted pretty much my entire lifetime. That old romantic building which was our town’s hospital for – well, my entire lifetime. Evidently there is still one story left in my head about that building, or at least the city block where it resided. And when I realized that my second to the last post about this place was exactly one year ago, well, what was I to do.

The end of August last year, Milestone Assisted Living Facility opened on the plot of land where the Old Sacred Heart Hospital had been. (Click on those links above to read all about it and see my photo album of it.)

I’ve been hearing lots of good things about the new building and know several people who have moved in. I missed the open house for the community, but since I have connections in the medical field, I thought I could just drop by and give myself my own tour. A month or two ago, however, a cousin of mine took up residence there. Shortly after that, my mom asked if I would take her there for a visit on my day off. Ah,ha, my ticket in the door.

It is indeed a beautiful facility and I thought at the time about taking some pictures, but thought that might be tacky. It isn’t just a building, after all; it is these people’s home.

While my cousin was giving us a tour, I ran into some of the women I know who are residents there. One of them, out of the blue, told me that I should do a presentation for the tenants about my travels to Kenya.  At that very moment, the assistant director walked by. The woman I know grabbed her and introduced us. “Chris has been to Africa several times and she would love to come back and tell us all about it.”

I didn’t miss a beat, pulling a business card for our nonprofit out of my pocket and a pen out of my purse. “Let me give you my name and number, but otherwise here is the information on our organization that works in Kenya.” Sometimes I do amaze myself.

Long story short (too late for that, Chris), I gave my presentation for about ten residents this past Friday. I still didn’t take any pictures inside, but asked one of the staff to shoot this one of me and my guests.

I don’t know how much some of them got out of my talk, but they did ask lots of questions afterwards and even ate my chapati.

I think my story has finally come full circle.