Horrified

Vases

If you recall, three years ago I turned fifty in the same month my father passed. At least my dad was there, if you’re into that kind of thing. I was sent flowers which was really nice and never expected. I was sent some red ants too because when you water some plants the foam is full of annoying insects that you need to obliterate. Alas, vases came in handy.

One particular day when a bunch needed to go, I asked the carer to take the vase out to my balcony and put the dead flowers into the bucket for weeds. I instructed her to bring the vase and the glass beads into the kitchen to be washed. Or so I thought…

For some crazy reason later, I was in the bin room on the ground floor looking at what looked like my vase. It was exactly the same, the blue glass beads and all. I was going to ask her but thought No, mine is in my apartment on the second floor, right? I know language is sometimes a barrier with this carer and I didn’t want to offend her or second guess her. So convinced was I that my vase was inside my home.

Over time I obviously realised I no longer possessed that vase and the longer I left it the easier it was to appreciate all the moving parts and that someone else has my vase. I one day asked said carer if she had perhaps misunderstood and thought if I didn’t want it anymore, she would give it a new home. I’m not suggesting stealing it but if it had been a misunderstanding that I had provided the vase and when the flowers are discarded you wash the vase and put it back until you need it again. Right? She was horrified and didn’t remember having put it in the bin room.

This leads me to the first vase I had until two weeks ago. I had asked my carer, a different one who kept correcting my mispronunciation of vase to tip out the old water and we would refill with fresh. I had bought some Indonesian orchids at the market about a month ago as they last and even as they dry, they remain colourful and pretty. They are definitely too small to go into the current cylindrical vases that would be lost in my home. She tipped up the vase and as I watched from the couch she quickly apologies stating she thought she had chipped the top of the vase. It was worse than that. I think it’s good to remind my followers that I am indeed half blind and despite being 4-5 metres away I had to tell my carer to put the vase down into the sink as it had s crack all the way around the middle and she was holding it very gently in her two hands.

As she apologised profusely. She was very apologetic and stated she would replace it. It is annoying when things I’ve owned for 30 years are broken and cannot be replaced as easily as that however she said everything you want someone in your home that breaks or damages something to state everything she said. I asked her to repeat all of it again so I could record it as a teaching manual for others. We didn’t but we will both keep an eye out for that perfect vase and it will happen when I think the least of us expects it. Very seriously, despite an item being broken it was much more important she does not cut her hands and neither of us do paperwork for an incident report. The dreaded incident report. We discussed both if I was cut or if she was cut. I don’t know if I have to do admin but I thought the absolute worst-case scenario was my thirty-year-old carer getting her hands cut so badly she had muscle and nerve damage and could not only not be my carer anymore but would need carers herself.