Daily Life

With the many frustrations and difficulties he faces every day in the hospital and even in maintaining the house, Jim thrives on his work. Without question, he is making a difference in the lives of people around him. Me, - not so much. I feel I should be doing more and then rationalize that I'm not here long enough during one stay to commit to a full-time position. Lame excuse because I can always get involved in one thing or another. Some days I do get a little sense of accomplishment in just taking care of mundane chores like food shopping, going to the bank for a new ATM card, or picking up a package at the post office.
The bank, for example, was total bedlam on Monday with at least 100 people milling inside and another 50 on line outside by the ATM "waiting for it to be repaired." Determined to succeed, I was able to find the bank manager, and after interacting with him and a series of his assistants, I departed with both cash in hand and a current ATM card (which should eventually be able to work).
The post office was my next stop. We received a notice in our box to pick up a package which turned out to be Beth's Father's Day gift. It had arrived shortly before Jim left for his stateside visit so he never got a chance to retrieve it before his departure. While one clerk in the main building watched over my two large bundles of shopping, I was directed to another location across the back courtyard, filled out a few forms for two other clerks chatting among themselves and other customers, watched them open and inspect the contents of the box, paid 3 Ghana cedi (about $2.25) for the paperwork, and finally left with a beautiful laptop carrying case filled with an assortment of US magazines and lots of good wishes.