UNSPOKEN CRAVINGS OF THE HEART

One ordinary Sunday afternoon in a group home. The residents are in their best behavior which is not common. No fighting over days of the week or van rides. No attention seeking behaviors. No repetitive asking questions. No impatient demands of doing errands or chores. Everyone respects boundaries and personal space. Everyone is just chilling, doing the things they normally do on a regular Sunday afternoon.

Beshoy and Luana are the live-in assistants who normally work long hours on a weekend. Beshoy is from Egypt and Luana is from Brazil. They support six adult residents with “Diffabilities,” three men and three women, two men in wheelchairs. The youngest is 26 years old, the oldest is 74 years old.

Everyone just finished lunch. They enjoyed a sumptuous meal, a leftover turkey from Thanksgiving which they celebrated the day before, complete with dessert and everything in a turkey thanksgiving dinner. Dirty dishes were put away in the dishwasher. Pots and pans were washed and dried. The table was wiped, the floor was swept and mopped. The kitchen counter and sink were cleaned. Resident in wheelchair was done with bathroom routines. Some residents stayed in their room to watch TV or listen to their radio or play games on their iPad or computer. Everyone is busy doing their own thing.

Beshoy is sharing the couch with one of the residents who is watching his favorite sports which is currently showing on TV in the living room. Luana took out the laundry from the dryer. You can smell the fresh and gentle scent of clean clothes in the air. Luana brought the laundry basket with clean clothes and sat on the opposite couch across from Beshoy.

While folding clothes, Luana is looking at Beshoy, they are exchanging glances from time to time but not saying a word, just a smile here and there. Luana is thinking about her family in Brazil especially her dad who is living on his own in a remote place far from her mom and siblings. She is already making a mental note when to hand in her vacation request to the office. It had been a year since she last visited home to attend her younger sister’s wedding.

Beshoy is thinking the same, although he only started working in the group home two months ago, he was away from home for three years and worked somewhere else. He also cannot wait to go home to see his parents, both are still alive, and two younger sisters who are also living with his parents. He has an older brother who got a job offer overseas and left Egypt two years before Beshoy left home.

Luana’s imagination wanders as far as to places she wants to explore and visit, especially the beaches. She loves to swim in the open sea and watch dolphins and whales. She is fascinated by the sound of the waves and likes morning walks by the seashore on bare foot.

Beshoy on the other hand is thinking of the food his mom is cooking back home, which he misses badly and makes him home sick. He longs to hang out with his childhood friends and catch up with them things that have been going on in their respective lives and to simply enjoy their presence and company like old times.

While Beshoy and Luana are busy entertaining these thoughts, every time they look at each other they cannot help but smile affirming each other’s thoughts. Acknowledging that mutual understanding that they are thinking the same thing even if they are not talking about it aloud.

Their vacation day dreaming ended when Luana finished folding the laundry. She stood up to put it away and had to leave the living room. And Beshoy needs to go to the kitchen to start preparing for supper because he is the cook of the day.

The resident has the living room all by himself now as he continues watching his sports on TV.

It will be supper soon.

And the early quiet and peaceful afternoon will soon be replaced with residents' banters, boisterous laughter, excited screams, repetitive questioning, different animal sounds, everyone will be in each other's space, but all is fun in a day, in a group home like ours.

It is home.

Our home.