Better Than A Bag

So a couple of weeks ago, Kyle and I stopped at a favourite restaurant of our on the cottage drive, Deb’s Restaurant on the Tynandaga reserve on Old #2 Highway in Shannonville. While it is not on the actual route, it is a detour we often take for gas or other purchases. Good home style food, generous portions,and no taxes are all part of the appeal. Be forewarned though, as it is on the reserve, non smoking legislation does not apply and you will find lots and lots of smokers. (They do have a no smoking section, but it is kind of like the no peeing section of the pool.)

One of the side effects of this round of chemo is my inability to regulate my temperature. I go from comfortable, to freezing to over- heated in the blink of an eye. As a result, when even we go inside a building, I keep my hat on, sliding it onto my shoulders when I get too warm, keeping it nearby ready to put back on my head when I cool down. It is important to remember this.

We had our dinner, were visited by the new chef who brought Kyle a tasting plate of the daily special, lasagne, and got our bill. While Kyle finished up, I headed off to pay and visit the ladies room before hitting the road. Anyway, I had finished up my business and flushed. As I turned around the toilet made a strange noise, and when I turned and looked, the hat that had been resting in my shoulder was laying in the bowl. I quickly grabbed the tie, and rescued it, rinsing the wet parts before carrying it out by the still dry tie. I asked the girl at the cash for a bag to carry it in and threw it in the truck. No big deal, I could wash it at the cottage.

After 5 days at the cottage, we returned home for my next treatment. In talking to my good friend Linda, I learned that she had the flu, and was suffering from it. She was very tired.

I regaled her with my hat in the toilet story and when I told her about asking the clerk for a bag, her response left me dumbfounded. “How was a plastic bag going to keep your head warm?” We both laughed over her misunderstanding, her tears finally stopped rolling down her cheek, we talked for a while longer and said goodnight.

The next day she emailed saying she was feeling a little better, and had been to the grocery story but was really tired. She told me she had not slept well the night before as kept on waking up all night with fits of giggles, but at least the tears had stopped. I replied to her, telling her she was a bitch when she was sick.

A week later, she was finally feeling better and we got together for coffee. When I got there, she presented me with a fleece neck wrap. It could be worn as a neck warmer, rolled and used as a ear muff, pulled up at the back and over the head for a hat that would not fall in the toilet, and finally, with an elastic holding one end closed, as a toque.

And as her daughter told us, “It’s better than a bag.”

~Inez