Noelle

[susandennis]

Noelle lives at the end of the hall with her husband, David. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She is also beautiful and has exquisite taste in clothes. She's at least 70 and probably closer to 80 but one of those ageless beauties. She does not have much of a sense of humor but so appreciates it in others. She was born in Paris and raised in south India and came to the United States for college. She spent most of her life until then in boarding school.

So while she looks as American as pie, her American cultural reference library has a very low inventory. She's now lived in Seattle for a long time and traveled around the world but is confused by east coast geography. "Help me understand where North Carolina is," she said when I told her where I grew up.

Today, at elbow coffee, the 7 Dwarfs were mentioned and she had never ever heard of them or Snow White.

She's a lot like one of those well meaning kids who's trying so hard to be in with the in crowd but just doesn't know how.

She wanted to do something for Joan but didn't know what. Myrna was in the hall talking to Hazel and John about preparation for Joan's new bed (due to arrive tomorrow) and she had found a new set of sheets (Joan's current bed is a queen but the new one will be a double). Noelle asked if she could wash them for Joan and iron them "Someone coming home from weeks in a hospital bed deserves fresh, ironed sheets." Myrna was telling me this kind of implying how silly Noelle is. I don't think it's silly at all, I think it's incredibly endearing.

This hallway is populated with a rich mixture of people for sure.

Comments

[1empress]

Aww, Noelle sounds like a sweetheart! I'd so appreciate those fresh ironed sheets 🩷

[susandennis]

me, too!!

[msconduct]

I've never ironed a sheet in my life but it was lovely of Noelle to think of it. It must be nice coming back to a place where you have so much support (from the residents anyway, doesn't sound like TR has been holding up its end).

[zoefruitcake]

I think that sounds like a nice thing to do for someone

[meowmensteen]

I used to iron shirts for a widower at my church when I was a teenager. I can tell you for sure, ironing is an act of love.

[spiffikins]

Noelle sounds like a peach!

I didn't realize quite how much I depended on cultural references from my childhood until I had a friend who was born in Malaysia and didn't move to Canada until she was 15. It took her a couple of years to get assimilated fully - and even then, she was not exposed to a lot of the television and movies and books that I grew up with - so there are a LOT of blank looks and confusion when casual references are made in conversation, to things she has never heard of.