Over Coffee

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   On our December travels, my husband and I were looking around late one afternoon in St. Marys, Georgia, an old seacoast town not too far from the Florida border, and came across a wonderful little restaurant located in the historic district called "Jake -n- Effie's." We were immediately enchanted by the name because my husband's grandmother's name was Effie Adaline and one rarely sees that name anymore in modern times. This Effie was Effie Ethelene, the owner's mother. Open for only about two months, Jake -n- Effie's is already successful, according to owner Brenda Lee. I can see why. This small family-owned Southern-style restaurant has two small dining rooms, but they were respectably full on a Monday evening. My husband ordered a stuffed grouper and I asked for a chicken Caesar salad and both were presented in a manner that would make our excellent Buckhead restaurants proud. Both entrees were absolutely wonderful and were served to us by Effie's granddaughter, Ashley. We cannot wait to go back. In true Southern fashion, we had met just about everybody in the place before we'd been in the establishment half an hour, including the Edward Jones man. Our suggestion to Brenda when we left was, "raise your prices!" I do not believe she'll do this, but my excellent chicken Caesar salad was $4.50. You would have suggested the same thing.
   Jake -n- Effie's, 122 Osborne Road, St. Marys, GA 31558. Osborne Road is the main drag through town. This quaint and wonderful restaurant is located in a set of buildings called the French Quarter, home to various specialty shops. If you are in St. Marys, this little restaurant is a must. In fact, I think I shall write the Governor about this. Sonny and Mary Perdue would enjoy this place immensely.

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   Our visit with our two elderlies, my husband's mother and her second husband, was, as always, bittersweet. They live in the hospital wing of a very nice retirement home in Indiana. Both will have birthdays in January, one will be 87 and the other, 88. My mother-in-law is in her second year of kidney dialysis and her husband, who has lymphoma and colorectal cancer, gets periodic blood transfusions when he is stepping through death's door and has been retrieved every time, four at last count. We have been advised that Kathryn has flunked the little mental test they administer every so often so this frail couple will be moving to the dementia wing in the new year. I am sure the staff does not want her to wander off, but since she goes most places in a wheel chair and does not push herself, I do not believe she can wander off. Perhaps she could if she decided to. Except, she no longer decides. She has not had an idea in years. However, rules are rules and we have agreed with everything the administration has suggested so far.
   Kathryn can live quite successfully in the mental present moment. Anyone just meeting her would think she was charming and quite lovely. What is missing from her conversation is the forward (ideas) and most of the back (past memories) in the movement of social communication. Until you have a conversation with her, you don't realize how much of our normal social discourse is rooted in these two functions. Kathryn recognizes her only child, my husband, most of the time, but on occasion she wonders who this handsome man might be.
   We were interested to learn that kidney dialysis is the only procedure that is mandated by Congress; anyone who needs it gets it through Medicare. This is our tax dollars at work, my friends. Personally, we are grateful that Kathryn has been able to extend her life in this manner, by hooking up to an artificial kidney three times a week and cleansing the toxins from her blood through the shunt in her arm. Kidney failure is one of the end games of uncontrolled Type II diabetes.

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   There is always something amusing to notice in life, and I regularly thank heaven for that. When we attended the Children's Christmas Eve service with our son and his family at the very beautiful and very enormous St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Jacksonville, Florida, we witnessed something really funny. The church was packed with lots and lots of children, their parents and grandparents, all eagerly awaiting the Christmas pageant of Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus, standing room only. From our pew, whose good vantage point was achieved by arriving 50 minutes early, we viewed the constant movement of this great mass of people, who were greeting friends and settling themselves. Suddenly, a little girl dressed in red, about three years old, broke from the crowd and made a beeline for the altar, running down the aisle with thumping footsteps on the carpet. In the tableau, she was a standout. A gray-headed gentleman, perhaps her grandfather, followed her down the aisle, but she was too fast for him. She shot up the steps and ran behind the altar. The older gentleman paused at the first step, looked around, and then knelt and genuflected, then ran up the steps in pursuit of this little girl, who by then had rounded the altar and come down the steps on the other side and was thumping up another aisle. The older gentleman followed with his Grandpa gait. It was fabulous. This story will live forever in that family! 

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   Hope all is well. Thanks for reading and may this be the happiest of New Years for you and yours.

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