In November 2007 I was asked by the Hospice Volunteer Coordinator at Visiting Nurses Services in Indianapolis if I would be interested in visiting an eighty-eight year old black woman for a few hours each week. She was diabetic and had limited mobility due to arthritis and knee surgeries. She had recently moved to her current one bedroom apartment in a senior complex near downtown. Her only surviving sibling had relocated to Mississippi ten years earlier. Without any family to assist with her care, Lela Mae was referred to Visiting Nurses Services by her doctor through a social worker.

Besides keeping her company, she also required someone to run errands and do some laundry. Used to working with terminal patients, this particular “special needs” person seemed like a welcome change. So, I agreed to meet Lela Mae Boyd with the Assistant Volunteer Coordinator. My initial reaction upon being introduced as her volunteer was that we were a total mismatch. What common ground could possibly exist between such two seemingly opposite people? But, these initial doubts were immediately dispelled when Lele Mae asked me if my wife was going to come over to do her laundry. When I answered that in fact I would be the one to take care of her laundering needs, she gave me an incredulous look followed by an affirmative smile. That’s all it took... from that moment on our friendship was cemented.

Every Wednesday since, for the past seven months we look forward to our conversations about current events, politics and even sports (especially her beloved Colts and Pacers teams). Lela Mae also enjoys her television shows. Two of our favorite programs to watch together are “The Price Is Right” and “The Millionaire Show”, although our viewing is typically interrupted by our unceasing conversations. One of the most visible positive changes over this period of time has been Lela Mae’s willingness to venture out of her apartment and explore the inner surroundings on the ground floor of the senior complex. This development came about as a result of a motorized wheelchair which was delivered to her a few weeks after my visits began. Unfortunately, she did not receive any training or instructions regarding its operation. So, one day I asked Lela Mae if she would be interested in learning how to use it. She welcomed the opportunity with some trepidation, but once she guided that motorized coach through her front door and out in to the hallway there was no stopping her. So, at least for a few minutes on most Wednesdays, Lela Mae gets to enjoy the freedom from her apartment confinement and the opportunity to socialize with some of her neighbors. Other than the occasional doctor visit in my car, she does not venture outside of her enclosed existence. But, as this sprightly octogenarian humbly and assertively replies to those concerned about her seemingly self-imposed exile... “I pay rent to live in my house and that is where I like to stay. I have my television with ninety-seven cable channels and my telephone. I have everything I need right here in my place.” Lela Mae’s simple approach to life may not work for most of us, but you would have to seek far and wide to find a happier, contented soul than this eighty-eight year old marvel.