Today is the day they will pull Kay’s park model home out of the park. When we stopped here several years ago Kay was in her mid 80′s and I marveled at how active she was. Swimming every day, walking to the clubhouse. She could outdo me any day.

A few months ago she had a minor car accident. Just a week after she renewed her driver’s license. Her car was beyond repair so she gave it up and sadly said she guessed she was through driving. She bought a scooter chair but never used it much. When we chatted as neighbors do over the fence I realized she really wasn’t remembering me. Slowly she was declining.

A few weeks ago her daughter could not get through to her on the phone and was concerned so the park called 911 and the medics came. Neighbors had seen her wandering the street and the pool the day before. The EMTs determined she was too confused to be alone so she went off to the hospital and never came back to live here. Her daughter was unable to care for her. Said she could not leave her alone. So Kay is now in a nursing home.

Over these weeks her family has cleared out her home, had a yard sale, removed her beloved roses and today the house goes. Kay came back one day with her daughter and she looks like she’s shrunk by a foot and could not walk very well.

After the loss of her car and that bit of independence she really declined. With the loss of her house her spirit is gone. As I sit in my chair I can see her little home out my window and tears come to my eyes for the sadness of a tough, independent woman who has lost it all.