Home Away from Home

I am in West Palm Beach, Florida staying at a Homewood Suites. It's a great little home away from home. My room has a full kitchen, with stove, dishwasher, refrigerator and microwave, a living room, bedroom and large bathroom. (When I end up with accommodations like this, I always think I should go to the grocery store and make cookies.)

The Homewood Suites always serve a full breakfast daily and a hot evening meal Monday thru Thursday. Yesterday evening, when I went down for supper, I noticed several children in wheelchairs with casts, braces and external fixation devices. This evening I was a bit later, and found even more families with obvious orthopedic interventions in progress. I asked the staff member working the meal and she said there is an orthopedic surgeon associated with a hospital nearby who works with children on bone lengthening procedures. The Homewood Suites has a contract with the hospital to provide lodging for these families during their stay. She said they get to watch these kids recover and over months get to know them and their families.

The dining room was fun. The kids all seemed to know one another and talked and played. Families chatted. The room was full of a dull roar of conversation. As I returned to my room, I talked with a family on the elevator. They have been coming for about a year and their daughter will need at least one more surgery, possibly two, but is looking forward to her legs being the same length and being able to walk independently.

Night Shift

This week I had the wonderful experience of missing a night in a bed. I had to fly from Seattle, Washington to West Palm Beach, Florida between Tuesday at 5 PM and Thursday at 8 AM. The best choice seemed to be to take the Red Eye at 11:55 on Tuesday night, arriving in Florida around 11 AM on Wednesday.

I had time to kill Tuesday evening, since I left the nursing home at 5 PM and didn't need to be at the airport until 10 or so. I went to a movie. I saw Men In Black III, which was pretty good. I liked watching Josh Brolin playing Tommy Lee Jones. I also had Buttered Popcorn and a bottle of water. I then went shopping for a while. I still ended up at the airport by 8 PM.

I sat, read, and ate some ice cream. The plane loaded on time and I was upgraded to first class, for which I was very happy. The seats really are more comfortable and my plan was to sleep. When I finally arrived in West Palm Beach I felt like I had worked a night shift! I drove around for about an hour including driving down the coastal highway.

The hotel was very nice to let me check in shortly before 1 PM and I donned my PJ's and got some sleep!