A couple years ago, we moved Mr.A’s dad (FIL) down to our city. He lives in a tiny subsidized senior apartment a few blocks from our house. He has always been a very quiet and solitary guy. Sometimes he struggles with mental health issues, but he also seems to be very, very quiet too.
Ever since he moved, I have been trying to convince him to sign up for Meals on Wheels. He didn’t want to have the at-home delivery because he said he “doesn’t eat lunch” and he knew he “wouldn’t like that American food anyway.” The local organization which runs a MoW program also has a program where they provide lunches at “dining centers” six days a week, so I tried to get him to try that option.
I first heard of these dining centers back when M attended chinese school (yes, we are dropouts). There is a bus that goes around and picks up seniors and takes them to the dining centers if they cannot drive. Each day, there is an Asian (actually, just Chinese) lunch option, so the bus was called the Chinese Lunch Bus because it mostly picked up older Chinese people and drove them to the specified Chinese restaurant. The Chinese Lunch Bus is kind of infamous among local Chinese families. When parents or grandparents arrive to visit from China, they are often immediately signed up and off they go for lunch each day. (There is also a Somali option, which is awesome because we have a huge Somali community here.)
I tried and tried to convince FIL to go on the Chinese Lunch Bus, but he resisted for years. Finally, when we went on our trip, he agreed to check it out–but he wouldn’t ride the bus, he would drive himself.
By the time we got back from our trip, FIL was a convert to what he calls the Old Man Meal. (Apparently in Chinese this sounds better – lao ren can). He goes six days a week and has the locations memorized. It only costs him $1.25 each day, which does his thrifty Tiawanese heart good.
Since he joined, not only does FIL get a decent meal each day, he has actually made friends and goes on social outings. If you knew my FIL, you would know how huge this is. He has found other old people who also like to wander around the Park of Roses taking grainy or blurry photos of flowers. He has also gone on a carpool convoy to a private fancy garden somewhere outside of town. He has invited some of the neighbors from his apartment complex to join him. There is even a rumor he may also have a girlfriend (!).
Someday, Mr. A and I really want to go to the Old Man Meal just to check it out. FIL reports there is even a growing number of (gasp!) white people who have started going too. Mr. A finds this hilarious because when he asked FIL what the white people call it (Do they call it the old man meal too?) FIL reports they call it the “Chinese Person Meal”.
Not only does FIL enjoy the Old Man Meal, he is now branching out. He discovered a local church serves a free fellowship dinner once a month. He is insisting we join him next month. I wouldn’t be surprised if word spread about this free meal among the Old Man Meal crew and we discover an army of old, cheap Chinese people taking the Episcopalians up on their generosity.