The new screen gives me hope.

I remember coming to this nursing home over six years ago. Being involuntarily discharged is horrible enough, but moving 80 miles away is a life altering experience.

This town is a county seat and so is of moderate size. When we came through the downtown area and just kept going, I wondered where this nursing home was.

When we made a turn, I noticed that some of the homes were not kept up very well. I thought I was going to the "little nursing home in the ghetto".

I have to admit when we pulled into the driveway of this one floor building I looked at it with wonder. Then I noticed there appeared to be lint on the window screens. It was a beautiful late September day and I could dally a bit looking. It's not strange to see lint close to maybe one window in a nursing home. But seeing it in most of the screens was strange.

After a few days here, I looked around. There isn't much of anywhere to look out except outside the back dining room where there are larger windows which face the street. Since I cannot eat by myself, and must be fed, I cannot go onto the patio during a meal. I really don't think I've been out there ever. I just sit near the door and look out the windows.

Outside my room there is a small window that faces the front. There is also a door that is an egress but only for people who ambulate. You see, there are several stairs. I wonder why that was not re-landscaped and ramped a long time ago. It could even have a deck with a bilevel wooden ramp. I guess somebody isn't thinking. I know everything costs money. But just think how nice it would look and how functional it would be.

As I looked out that window, six years ago that first weekend. I noticed there were tears horizontally in the bottom of the screen. There were also other spots that looked like maybe an outside cat had scratched at the window. I remember I sat there trying to figure out who or what would've made those marks in the screen. I didn't think it was from birds. But you never know.

Since I have to wait usually for care from the aides, many days I stitched that tear in the screen up with embroidery thread in my mind. I wondered if anyone thought of that. We could have almost made a project out of it. Residents could have used embroidery thread tied in different ways to repair the screens. Oh I know that's weird – but it's also funny.

Today something strange happened. Someone decided that the screens needed to be replaced. I don't know if they just put new screening in the old frames, or bought all new screen panes.

I was so surprised when the maintenance guy walked down my hall, opened the window, removed the old screen, and put in the new one.

I went over there and sat by the window. I realized I can see out better now. There aren't little gaps, lines, and holes in the landscape now.

It's great to see improvement, even if it is slow in coming. When I saw that new screen going in, it gave me hope.