This one's for you, Mary Louise.

After completing my night shift, I had received my mandation slip and was required to work the day shift as well. While wheeling a
nursing home resident down to the day room for breakfast, I was having a conversation with a day shift co-worker. I mentioned that my favorite topics of conversation were the two that one was never supposed to talk about-- religion and politics.

The nonogenerian seated in the wheelchair then burst into our conversation. "I love to talk about politcs," she boldly exclaimed. "I'm an F.D.R. Democrat!" So went my formal introduction to Mary Louise and the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Mary Louise and I spent most of our time together on that unit chiding each other over our chosen political positions, both past and present. During meal times, Mary would complain that she was always given margarine instead of real butter. "I'm 92 and they are afraid one pat of butter will do me in!" I explained to her as 'nicely' as I could that the nutritionist was a Republican and saved the butter for the conservative residents. I'm kinda glad we didn't have a concealed carry law at that time, but, still, a 92 year old lunging at you with a butter/margarine knife while threatening to spread your pate d'foie gras on a cracker and shove it up your... er, down your throat can be pretty a pretty scary thing.

One night after coming in to work I was again assigned to Mary's unit on the fourth floor. While receiving the nursing report from the previous shift, I found out that Mary Louise had lapsed onto her death bed and not expected to make it through the night. She was 93. I went down to her room to take her vitals. She had been unresponsive for some time. I leaned down and whispered into her ear, "Mary Louise, this is Steve. I'm supposed to take your vital signs for your chart. But, mostly I wanted to check your pulse to see if Democrats really have a heart." At this, Mary snorted and lifted her right arm to a position that caused me to assume a backhand cuff to my ear was in route. She recovered, but did unfortunately die a few months later.

Although Mary Louise died in 1999, I expect that somehow she still cast a few Democratic votes last November in Milwaukee. And to think... if Kerry/Edwards would have been elected perhaps she would have been raised from the dead through their embryonic stem cell research promises. But I still wouldn't give her any butter!