Christmas in Long Term Care

She sits quietly in her chair staring out her window. Not much to see. Parked cars in the parking lot and beyond that, the road. The house across the street has a dog and if she is lucky, she will have the joy of watching this canine as he chases the squirrels. It is the highlight of her long day in the nursing facility.
She is invited to activities if the facility isn't short of staff and the Aide assigned to her remembers to take her. Oh how she wished she could get in her wheel chair by herself and wheel herself around the facility visiting with other people.
Now it is Christmas Eve and her family will not make it in to visit her until after the holidays. She understands, they have families of their own to visit and spend time with. She had hoped they would come take her home for the day, she wouldn't be any trouble. But not this year. This Christmas she will spend alone in her room like last year. She pretends not to notice when the aides come in her room and rummage through her draws or "borrow" her powder for another resident. Nor does she cause any trouble for the housekeeper that took the china doll from her roommates table.She didn't want any backlash for tatling. These were Christmas gifts from a local church. Not much, but they were special. She simply smiled and looked out the window. Talking to the staff was impossible; they didn't speak her language, (English), and she didn't speak thiers, (Spanish). This made it more lonely. She tried to stop the tears from falling, no one must know how lonely she felt. No one would care. At 86 she knew she had outlived her purpose in life. Who would need or gain anything from such an old lady. Now she let the tears fall, who cares anyway. As the snow began to fall she looked across the street. Perhaps today the neighbor will let the dog out for play time.