Circle of Hell

We are really lucky that my mother in law is a Navy veteran and receives VA benefits. She volunteered thousands of hours at the Decatur VA hospital, so she often tells people, "I used to work there," making it sound like more than it really is. The good thing about her having spent so much time there as a volunteer is that she does still have a good bit of familiarity with the place, which is helpful when she goes there for medical treatment.

The thing about this VA hospital is that the parking situation there is woefully inadequate. So many patients are trying to get there each day that they finally instituted a free valet parking system. The problem is that you must drive into one of the two entrances at the facility, then circle the building, eventually merging into one line that files into the valet stand. This whole process can easily take an hour. So, we leave home in time to get to the VA with an extra hour to park, but when you've got an impatient 89 year old who also needs to "make her bladder gladder" pretty frequently, and has dementia on top of that, it's a gamble.

Inevitably I have to let Dair out of the car well before I can park, so I've come up with the solution of giving her a piece of paper with her appointment time and location as well as my name and cell number on it and sending her into the building to find the bathroom. I just pray she makes it to her appointment by the time I finish parking. I've decided that if Dante had known about VA parking, he would have included it as one of his circles of hell.