Judy My Long Time Friend

I think people know how Judy and I became friends.  It was in 1979.  All she could think of to talk to me about was my cat "Sam."   I thought she was strange, but I didn't realize she was slow.  I invited her to a movie.  From that day on, she followed me where ever I went.  One day I wanted to go home and take a nap.  I was living with Mom and Dad then.  She followed me.  I didn't know how to tell her to leave, so I went in my bedroom, leaving her sitting in the living room with my mother.  She sat there a few minutes and then left.

Judy had a way of moving in with people, by going to visit them and just never leaving..  When she did that to me, I tried to tell her to leave, but she just laughed at me.  She used to laugh at Mom too.  Mom would say, "If you're going to laugh at me, you can just leave."  Just laughed more.

After all these years, I think I've figured out why and how Judy does that.  Being slow, her mother did everything for her.  Her mother died when she was twenty two. She was left to live with her father, who was a grumpy old man that couldn't take of himself let alone anyone else.  He married a woman who he met on dial a date.  She and Judy did not get along.

Somehow, she ended up in Reno by herself.  She couldn't find a place to live,  She stayed in a couple of places that took her money and kicked her out.  Having nowhere to go she ended up in the Nevada State Hospital.  Judy definately has a mental illness and can be very hard to get along with.  Her brothers and sisters seem to be afraid that she will want to live with them.  She would like to live with her sister Billie, but Billie and her husband we able to tell her no.  Judy still feels hurt by that.

In Salt Lake she tried to live alone.  People that she knew from mental health visited her a lot.  She has a way of getting people to take care of her.  It amazes me, even though I am the one who takes care of her the most.  She moves in with people who will take care of her.  That's the way she survives.  She may be slow, but she knows how to get her needs met..

Judy can't accept anything, from having mental issues to the color of her hair.  She has this thing about her hair.  She wants blond hair and she gets angry if you tell her it's dark.  In reality it is almost black.  She is always asking people about her hair, what color it is, if it's curly or wavy or straight.  You need to know the right answer, because the truth makes her angry.  You also have to lie to her about her weight and many other things.

When I lived with her, she complained if I left her alone for fifteen minutes to take a shower.  She was afraid the phone would ring or someone would knock on the door.

I practically had to force her to take a shower.  One time she was in the bathtub saying "I don't want to take a bath."  One thing I refused to do for her was to help her with her shower or washing her hair.  Some people might do that, but not me.

She has a sort of obscessive compulsive thing that makes her feel like she has to get rid of things.  I get angry with her when she gets rid of my stuff, but it doesn't do any good.

So, if you wonder why I hang around Judy.  It's because she has been with me for thirty years.  I'm used to her.  She acts like she likes me and she cares about me.  I confess, I like her too, faults and all.