The morning today was wonderful.

I woke up nice and early. My room was bright with the light of summer, maybe as bright as I had ever seen it. I rested on my mattress for a few minutes, then I got out of bed. I had never liked waking up too late. 

Then, I took a look out of my window. I enjoyed its placement very much! It had a great, big view of the nature outside of my home. Just from here, I was able to see squirrels climbing up trees, birds resting in their nests, and so many plants! I stood by my window for a while, taking in the view. After several minutes, Maria came in to help me freshen up and get dressed. She checked that everything was okay, then left, letting me know that breakfast was open. I was still a little new here, so I assumed she was making sure I knew everything. After a bit, I grabbed my walking stick and went to leave my room, when I saw something.

Usually, I had my own pair of black slippers, which were quite old. However, there was a pair of smooth, blue slippers by the door to my room. They were clearly new. I put them on; they looked, and felt, amazing on me! 

“This is a surprise,” I chuckled to myself. “How did these get here?” I decided to wear them, to show my friends.

I walked fairly quickly to the breakfast area; after all, I was excited to see what Nancy, Molly, and the others would think! 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find them. Usually, they sat by the windows, eating breakfast, but for some reason, another group of people had replaced them today. Still, I found nothing wrong with making some new friends! 

“Hello, everyone,” I smiled, finding a comfortable couch and sitting down on it. I pointed down at my feet. “Look what I found in my room!”

They all looked at the blue slippers curiously. “Oh, goodness, Edna,” said one of them, an old woman with brownish hair. I was a little surprised she knew my name, but I thought nothing of it. “Those look spectacular.” 

“Are those brand new?” asked another person. 

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I just… I just found them in my room, next to my door. I’ve never seen them before!”

“Hmm…” said someone else thoughtfully. “I wonder how you got those?”

We all pondered that question. “Maybe one of the nurses put it there?” wheezed an elderly man with white hair. 

At that moment, a nurse walked over to us, holding a plate of food. “Here you go, Edna.”

“Oh, that looks delightful,” I said, looking down at my plate of scrambled eggs, sausages, and toast. “By the way, do you know anything about these slippers? They just appeared in my room!” I lifted my foot just a bit, then dropped it back down. 

“No, Edna,” smiled the nurse. “Enjoy your food.”

“Oh, I will,” I laughed. For the rest of breakfast, we discussed theories as to how I may have gotten these slippers. It was remarkable how accommodating the people were here; they talked to me as if they had known me for a while! We talked about other things, until it was time for us to go to exercise. Manny, my personal trainer, helped me walk over to the gym. I did not have any prescribed exercises, like many of my friends. Instead, Manny told me that our main goal was to build strength and coordination. 

“But, I already have strength,” I had said to Manny. “I used to work out a lot.”

“I understand that,” Manny had said. “And that’s why you are only going to have to do a few, simple exercises. You are very healthy for your age.”

“Yes, of course, I am very healthy.” I assured him.

The exercises were quite enjoyable for me, actually! Most of it was stretching, and I was able to chat with a few others as I was doing it. I felt completely energized by the time we were done. 

The rest of the day went by quite normally. I had lunch, talked some more with the other residents. Then, a nurse, who I had never seen before, talked to me and taught me a bit more about the daily activities at this place. As she talked, I felt a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I knew her. That was strange, because I was quite good with names, so it was not like me to forget. 

“I’m sorry, honey,” I interrupted her, hoping I wasn’t going to offend her. “I have this strange feeling that I know you, from somewhere. Have we met?”

The nurse seemed to be confused for a moment, but then she sighed, and looked at me with a steady gaze. “Yes, Edna. I am Maria. I am your personal care nurse.” 

“Oh,” I said. I didn’t know her, after all. “It’s nice to meet you.”

The evening held the strangest occurrence of the day. I was finishing up my dinner in the grand seating area, admiring the piano player in the corner. I ate dinner quite early in comparison to the other residents, so I was mostly alone.

A woman came up to me, accompanied by a nurse. The woman herself was clearly not a resident: she looked a couple decades younger than most of the people here. 

“Hi,” she said softly, almost carefully. “How are you doing?”

I was confused, at first, since I didn’t know this woman. However, I decided to be polite. “I’m good! How are you?”

“Fine,” she sighed, sitting down in the chair next to me. I wiped my mouth with a napkin, wanting to look presentable in front of this stranger.  

“How do you like it here? Are they treating you well?” she asked. 

A thought popped into my head. Perhaps this woman was confused; she thought I was someone different. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. In that case, it would be best to continue acting as if I did know her.  

My hesitation seemed to have upset her. A tear started rolling from the corner of the eye. “Yes, of course!” I said hurriedly. “It’s wonderful here.”

The woman sniffled a bit. She looked down at my feet, visible from her seat. “I see… I see you’re wearing the slippers I got you.”

Now I was confused. “These are my slippers,” I said, slowly. 

“I- I got those for your… your birthday.” More tears began to fall from the woman’s face. 

“Don’t you remember?”

I was startled by her reaction. What was going on? “It’ll be fine,” I said in my most soothing tone, not knowing what else to say. After all, there was nothing to cry about.

The woman took a shaky breath, then looked into my eyes. “You don’t know who I am, do you?” She phrased it in such a way that maybe I was supposed to know who she was. 

Before I could respond, the nurse interrupted us. “Miss, I think you should come with me.”
I watched as the nurse led the woman away. Then, I finished my dinner.  

I retired to bed relatively early. It had been an interesting day, that was for sure! While usually I could fall asleep in a matter of minutes, the woman from the evening still bothered me. Why did she act like she knew me? Or, more importantly, why did she act like I knew her?

Her face swam in my mind. Strangely enough, a name seemed to swim with her.

“Juliet,” I said. Then, almost subconsciously, I corrected it. “Jules.”

The name felt familiar, but I had never met anyone with such a name. “Oh well,” I said to myself. “Perhaps I’ll sleep on it.”

The morning today was wonderful.

I woke up nice and early. My room was bright with the light of summer, maybe as bright as I had ever seen it. I rested on my mattress for a few minutes, then I got out of bed. I had never liked waking up too late. 

Then, I took a look out of my window. I enjoyed its placement very much! It had a great, big view of the nature outside of my home. Just from here, I was able to see squirrels climbing up trees, birds resting in their nests, and so many plants! I stood by my window for a while, taking in the view. After several minutes, a nurse came in to help me freshen up and get dressed. I could never remember her name, honestly! She checked that everything was okay, then left, letting me know that breakfast was open. I was still a little new here, so I assumed she was making sure I knew everything. After a bit, I grabbed my walking stick and went to leave my room, when I saw something.

There was a pair of smooth, blue slippers by the door to my room.