Miss Diggs......what can I say. I think I could best describe this firecracker of a woman with something that happened on my first day there. I kept walking into this door in the back lunch room because it had a handle that seemed to suggest you could just push it open. However, it also had a doorknob that had to be turned. All the ladies were sitting at the back room lunch table (as I later would find out they do EVERY day at about the same time), when I once again slammed myself into the door again thinking it would open. Well, Miss Diggs started talkin' and for a brief moment I had no idea she was talkin' to me! "I Tell you what!" she began, " You goona learn one thing before you git outta this place today and that's how ta open that door!" I could have taken it personal as she was not laughing when she said it. And the other ladies just confirmed it with their own comments like, uh-huh, and that's right! and my personal favorite.....you don't EVER LIE!! She made me nervous at first. While she was just a nurses aid on the floor, it was clear to me that most of the nurses did what Miss Diggs said. She was one of the un-official bosses on the floor. When they would all get together at lunch time, she was the elder statesmen; the one with an answer for most things.
Over the six or so months I was there, I had a few opportunities to talk with Miss Diggs about things of importance and personal. I discovered that her life had been a hard one. She had a couple of kids with some guy who wouldn't marry her and in fact she was still with him despite livin at her momma's house with her other siblings as well as her own children. This man came by and in a terribly unromantic way, told her to get her coat cause they were gonna go get married. I sensed she did it to get out from under her momma's hair because the house was so crowded. She told of how he was a nasty an and cheated on her repeatedly and on occasion hit her. My heart went out to that poor woman. She would have no pity though...not Miss Diggs. Present day, this man was almost an invalid with some type of illness going on like parkinsons that made him completely dependent on her for care. What did she do? She did it. she cared for him. She admits she don't love him but she has to take care of the man. she was clearly toughened up from a difficult life. Perhaps that's why she laughed so much at work. She had so much fun with all the other ladies. The people she cared for loved her. The nurses that were working with her on a particular day loved having her as an aide because she did her work. all I can say is that she would do anything for me. I must say that in my opinion her life was full of many lousy things in her past, but she come out shinin'! God bless her.