First Aide

After all that frustration, I seem to have found myself an aide. She's been at it for two weeks now, and she's kind, calm, capable, and dependable. Having three young kids is probably good practice for this sort of work. And she wears scrub tops with cartoonish patterns
-- the kind pediatric nurses favor to comfort young patients. The tactic works.

Most aides insist on shifts of at least four hours, but Nicole was perfectly willing to work three. Even with that, I've let her go early every day so far. No point sitting around watching stories with me when the work's done.

I was going to say this was my first experience being bathed by a stranger, but then I remembered my 20s. It's certainly the first time I've paid for the favor. And it was surprisingly easy to get used to.