My Saturday Job

I now do the 7-3 shift on Saturdays with Mrs. O'Ladie (not her real name...ha ha). It is challenging at times because she can be, well, to be frank...just plain mean. But heck, she is 100 for crying out loud, she is entitled to some cranky moments. I do not judge. There are also moments when she can be sweet and thoughtful. She has a wonderful self deprecating sense of humor. She's 100 and has buried 2 of her children. I don't know what her beliefs are, but she has a needlepoint of The Lords Prayer" over her favorite chair.
She is very sharp and very proper, a little forgetful perhaps, but her mind is 100% there. Amazing! She reads at least 3 books a week. Anyway, last Saturday she was reading the latest book by one of my favorite authors, Anita Shreve ( The Pilots Wife, Fortune's Rocks, Sea Glass). I was reading as well in a nearby chair. We had been reading for about an hour when she slammed her book shut in disgust. I nearly had a heart attack. You have to know that I am a little on edge when I am there...ready to pull the emergency cord at the first sign of trouble. When I asked her if she was okay, she said "no Patti, I am not okay". Yikes...I had no idea what was coming. "I cannot read this book one second longer". "Take it away and bring me another". "I will not read books with any sex or improper language...it pollutes the mind" . Alrighty then. I got her a new book.
I have thought about that moment often this past week. About how often I pollute my own mind and don't even realize it or give it much thought. I am somewhat desensitized. Not to the blatant offensive things, but the more subtle things that appear in the books that I read and the movies that I watch. I am thinking that I can learn a thing or two from Mrs. O' Ladie.