June, 2005 - Retirement

Even if you're not a grandparent yet, you might enjoy this.

A teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their vacation.

One child wrote the following:

We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma & Grandpa.

They used to live here in a big, brick house, but then Grandpa got

retarded so they moved to California and live in Palm Springs with

a lot of other retarded people. They live in a condo-minimum and

have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around on

big tricycles and wear name tags because they don't know who

they are anymore.

They go to a building called a wrecked center, but they must have

got it fixed because it  is all  right now.  They  play  games  and do

exercises there, but they don't do them very well. There's a swim-

ming pool too, but  all they do is  jump up and down in it with their

hats on. I guess they don't know how to swim.

At their gate there is a dollhouse with little old man sitting in it. He

watches all day so nobody can escape. But sometimes they sneak

out. Then they go cruising in their golf carts.

My grandma used to bake cookies and stuff, but I guess she forgot

how. Nobody there cooks,they just eat out. And they eat the same

thing every night, " Early Birds". Some of the people can't get past

the man in the dollhouse to go out, so the ones who get out bring

food back to the wrecked center and call it pot luck.

Grandma says Grandpa worked all  his  life to earn his retardment

and says I should work hard, so I can  be retarded some day, too.

When I earn my own retardment, I want to be the man in the doll

house.

Then I'll let people out so they can visit their grandchildren.