I Had a Roommate From Hell
Tonight I had an upset stomach, can't sleep. Looked for the various over the counter upset stomach remedies I keep around for when this happens which is very occasionally.
After tearing everything apart, I realized the truth, which I have just begun to get used to:
My roommate had stolen all my stomach medicine.
I really wanted to find him and tell him off. But I can't. He's dead. He died a couple of months ago.
After he died, the manager of our rooming house unlocked his room and found his crack pipe.
That explained a lot.
Over the last couple of years, I've been fighting a chronic illness. It has made me, a 74 year old woman, feel like I've aged at least 10 years. It has focused my mind on getting old and not being able to do a good job of taking care of myself. So...when my stuff turned up missing, I blamed myself, called myself an old fool, cursed myself for getting mixed up ("I thought I put that on my shopping list last week! Must've forgotten it.") I kept believing it had disappeared into my clutter, or I had somehow lost it, or left it off the shopping list.
No matter how many times I bought things like tin foil, olive oil, razor blades, baking soda, mouth wash, bandaids, tooth paste, and...stomach medicine like Alka Seltzer...they disappeared and I blamed myself.
For a while I even got depressed about it, convinced I was on the verge of Alzheimer's or some kind of senile dementia and soon to be bundled off to a nursing home.
Then my crackhead roommate died, and it all unraveled. All that fear and self-blame lifted, and I felt so good I almost felt guilty it was such a blessed relief.
But the aftermath is that every so often I find I need something and realize it was stolen and I have to replace it. And if it's something I really need right away, and it's late at night, I am stuck either going out and driving around looking for an all night store, or doing without it until I can replace it.
When you are older and need some kind of over the counter remedy, it always seems to happen late at night. It's hard to judge whether to go out and look for it while you are feeling ill (and I live in a small town without many all night stores), or just do without it and miss some sleep.
I've decided to stay home, stay awake with my upset stomach, post this to take my mind off it, and think of all the ways I would like to kill a dead man.
After tearing everything apart, I realized the truth, which I have just begun to get used to:
My roommate had stolen all my stomach medicine.
I really wanted to find him and tell him off. But I can't. He's dead. He died a couple of months ago.
After he died, the manager of our rooming house unlocked his room and found his crack pipe.
That explained a lot.
Over the last couple of years, I've been fighting a chronic illness. It has made me, a 74 year old woman, feel like I've aged at least 10 years. It has focused my mind on getting old and not being able to do a good job of taking care of myself. So...when my stuff turned up missing, I blamed myself, called myself an old fool, cursed myself for getting mixed up ("I thought I put that on my shopping list last week! Must've forgotten it.") I kept believing it had disappeared into my clutter, or I had somehow lost it, or left it off the shopping list.
No matter how many times I bought things like tin foil, olive oil, razor blades, baking soda, mouth wash, bandaids, tooth paste, and...stomach medicine like Alka Seltzer...they disappeared and I blamed myself.
For a while I even got depressed about it, convinced I was on the verge of Alzheimer's or some kind of senile dementia and soon to be bundled off to a nursing home.
Then my crackhead roommate died, and it all unraveled. All that fear and self-blame lifted, and I felt so good I almost felt guilty it was such a blessed relief.
But the aftermath is that every so often I find I need something and realize it was stolen and I have to replace it. And if it's something I really need right away, and it's late at night, I am stuck either going out and driving around looking for an all night store, or doing without it until I can replace it.
When you are older and need some kind of over the counter remedy, it always seems to happen late at night. It's hard to judge whether to go out and look for it while you are feeling ill (and I live in a small town without many all night stores), or just do without it and miss some sleep.
I've decided to stay home, stay awake with my upset stomach, post this to take my mind off it, and think of all the ways I would like to kill a dead man.
70-79, F
