Alice, at the Mansion

Well, it seems I have a new girlfriend, she is sweet and soft-spoken, she is as older than me as I am older than Maria. We have had two dates already, and are planning a third.

She lives at the Mansion Assisted Care Facility, and I broke the news to Maria this afternoon. I said my new girlfriend was mature and very sweet.

Maria, who is half Sicilian and half German, has a fierce temper, but she took the news well. She didn’t even kick me out of the farmhouse or smack me around.

My first date came when Alice, who struggles to walk sometimes, very bravely agreed to go on the boat ride we took on a Lake George steamboat two weeks ago. She had to walk from a parking lot across a busy street and she walks haltingly and uncertainly sometimes.

I felt a strong connection to Alice, she just touched me. She is all good.

I came up to her and asked her out, i asked her if she would like to be my date for the boat ride, I would walk with her and help her be steady. She looked at me with surprise and  and said yes, she would like that, and I took her hand in mine and we walked across the street, and up the ramp. I stayed with her most of that boat ride, walked with her through the food line and filled her plate, and when she wanted to go somewhere, I would take her hand in mine and we would walk slowly.

She couldn’t quite dance, but we watched some of the others dance.  We stood out on the deck together and watched the water.

At the end of the boat ride, I took her hand and we walked down the gangplank together. We tend to take walking for granted, but it is not so simple for Alice. We had fun together and when we got to the van, she thanked me for being her date.

At the Mansion last week, we asked the residents if they would like to go to a theater in Troy in November, if so we would try to arrange a trip. I could see Alice was interested, her eyes brightened. She said she had to think about it, she wasn’t sure she could make it.

I knew what she was afraid of, walking down a street and into a crowded theater and getting down an aisle might be hard for her. I could see navigating the crowds on the boat was difficult for her.

I went over to her and said, “Alice, if you go, I’ll be  your date, just think about it.”

She said nothing then, or since. I thought she had decided against it, or had forgotten the trip.

Today, walking down the hallway with Red, I saw Alice sitting on her favorite sofa in the hallway. She smiled and looked up at me.

“I’ve been thinking about the theater,” she said. “I would like to go if you could be my date again.” I bowed to her and said I would be delighted to go with her and be her date.

“I will have to tell my wife,” I said.

Alice laughed. “Make sure to tell her how old I am,” she said. I said we would have fun.

So we have a date in November.

You can write to Alice c/o Alice, The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. If you wish to donate to the Mansion support fund, you can send a check to Jon Katz, Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Or you can contribute via Paypal, [email protected]. And thanks.