When my dad’s health began to fail precipitously, I moved into their assisted living community and distance-worked.  It was odd and also kind of tedious to be the only totally ambulatory resident as well as the sole inhabitant not requiring a hearing aid. 

The high point occurred one day while I was taking the garbage and recycling to the trash room: I passed an elderly couple tottering together in the hall. They said hello so I replied “How are you?” When I was a few feet beyond them, the man asked his wife loudly, “Did that girl say ‘I love you?’”

Only there am I still a “girl.”