Years ago I used to work in the medical field. As such I would associate myself with being around a lot of people. Generally geriatric patients, or the disabled put in homes where I worked. One day I ran across an oddity, if you wish to call it that, but in actuality, nothing out of the ordinary. A patient who I thought was senile or just simply “crazy.” For months, when I saw this patient, she would smile and try to show me pictures of her family and mumble on about her life and past events.
One day I happened to have time enough from my routines to visit with this lady. When she found out I was interested in listening to her, she blurted out and said,
“You know I have two grown children. The first one I had, I was only five years old, and the second, well let’s see, I was about five and ahalf, yes, five and a half years old.”
Right then I knew that this old woman was not within her senses, as she giggled at me. When I asked her how that could be for no child could have children, she stated,
“Well, I was old enough, since my parents let me get married when I was four and ahalf and lived with my husband who just passed away for over 65 years. You know he was almost 82 years old and died shortly before I turned 20.”
Getting confused every time I talked to this woman, I got to thinking that maybe she was mentally ill and that I shouldn’t question any of what I thought were her delusions. After months of this, I finally broke down and asked the Director of Nurses about Mrs. So and so’s “condition.” Laughingly, my boss broke down and said,
“She still doing that. As many times as we have told her not to do that to people, she gets a kick out of pulling that joke on everyone.”
Puzzled, I asked,
“What joke?,” to which the Director replied,
“She was born in February 29th of a leap year and in reality, has a birthday only every four years, but REALLY is 80 years old. She gets a kick out of confusing people and evidently she sure confused …YOU !,” and laughingly walked away……