Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Good-Bye Ester!

Sad news to report - Ester passed away over the weekend. Little does she know that she'll live on in "all of us" who know the story behind "FOCUS ESTER".

During agility class and at trials we have told each other to "Focus" many times. It's harder than you think to focus for 30-60 seconds...HONEST!! More times than not we'd make those horrible "pointing" gestures with our two fingers toward our eyes in order to add emphasis to the importance of FOCUSING!!!!

Ester became involved in our "game" totally by accident. Did she run agility? I highly doubt it, she was an elderly avid tennis fan confined to a wheelchair. I'm pretty sure she didn't even own a dog. I'm not sure if she'd even liked dogs as they probably just stole the tennis balls! The total truth is, I've never meet the women, but I now use her name on a daily basis.

Rilda was Ester's evening care giver for many months, until she was moved to a nursing home. Rilda told us a funny story about trying to get Ester ready for bed one evening. There was a tennis match on TV and as Rilda was wheeling Ester down the hall into the bathroom, Ester was leaning back looking over her shoulder as not to loose sight of the TV and the match. As they entered the bathroom Ester was leaning as far back as she could in her chair as to keep the TV in view.

Rilda stated that she was getting rather frustrated, since if Ester would just "focus" they could get her to the bedroom which also had a Television in it. Finally Rilda just broke down and had to say, "Focus Ester" out loud. (She claims NOT to have used the "finger action" - I have my doubts) G

Since that story "Focus Ester" has become common verbiage for many of us. I've even been known to use it at work. In fact, one of my co-workers said it just today!

I sure hope Ester has a sense of humor!!! Now..........

FOCUS ESTER!!!!!

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