I started doing mobile notary work about a year ago. My real estate agent had called me one night and asked if I'd meet her at the hospital. My husband went with me and her family signed numerous documents, with the unfortunate news her father did not have long to live. I didn't even want to charge her since we're friends but she said it wasn't fair that I came so late and it took so long, and insisted she pay me. I thought it wasn't fair that she was cancelling her trip to Greece the next day and saying goodbye to her father, but graciously accepted the offer of payment. And that's when it crossed my mind there is a need for a person who will travel to you at any time of night to do a notary. It occurred to me that most of the people in need would probably be very ill, if they were unable to travel on their own, but I knew immediately it was something I wanted to do.
I set up a page on Yelp: "After Hours Mobile Notary" of Concord. And soon after, I began to get calls. I feel like $10-20 for travel fee is fair to both parties, so I never charge more than that, and sometimes I don't charge a travel fee at all. I accept calls any time I hear my phone ring and have gone out very late at night. My listed hours say I work until 11:30 pm. I skip lunch from time to time in order to meet someone on my one-hour break from my office job. I've traveled as far as El Sobrante (20 miles), but generally my calls are closer than that. I've met at homes, businesses, hospitals, banks, auto shops, and other places!
I remember a call I received when I started that brought me to Pittsburg (15 miles away). Pittsburg has some rough neighborhoods so my husband went with me and stayed in the car. I knocked on the door and it opened slowly. It was very dark inside. I admit, I am often nervous about going in to homes alone because I don't know who or what waits inside. I entered slowly as I waited for my eyes to adjust. And then, I was observed by an entire family and directed to the back of the house. There in bed lay the tiniest man I'd ever seen. He was so skinny! He was on his side moaning and another man was in the room too: his attorney. His attorney apologized for the smell and the scene, neither of which bothered me. A blanket shifted slightly and I saw his bare hip, which looked mostly like bone and my eyes swelled. He was a black man but he looked so pale and ashen. Good Lord, Amy, hold it together! He barely acknowledged me but was coherent. The man looked so old and broken - I wanted to hug him and smile. The attorney explained to him what he was signing, and he did his best to make his legal mark. It took him a very long time. I left the room and joined his family at the front of the house. They told me about his cancer. His children were actually younger than me: an athletic college-aged boy, and a girl with a short skirt and pretty hair. This man was much younger than I had thought at first glance; younger than my own parents. The door had not even shut behind me yet when the tears started to come. I returned to my husband's car, and noticed all his texts to my phone. He was worried about me; I had been gone so long. I cried and told him about the man and the children and the smells. I told him about the cancer. It was the first time I'd ever seen someone like this before, and I'll never forget it. In turn, he shared with me about losing his grandmother to cancer, and her fast deterioration, and I knew he understood what I'd just seen.
I knew then that I was meant to see elderly and ill people; and see them at their weakest moments. That it would teach me compassion and remind me to appreciate life and spread love to every person. I go from place to place, often times finding elderly people alone, and sometimes quite lonely. One visit to an assisted living center and I was told the woman had not had visitors in the almost year long period she'd been there. She stayed alone in her bed, every day. She'd lost so much weight her dentures no longer fit properly and she was very difficult to understand. I always ask if the resident enjoys the assisted living center they're in. Some do. Some have wonderful stories and smiles when they're asked. Others do not smile, and they do not enjoy where they are.
I once arrived at a rehabilitation facility and the client wasn't answering my calls, so I had no idea where to go. So naturally, I explored! I found myself in the cafeteria. I joined a table of men in the middle of dinner. They were of various ages and reasons for being there. One older man showed me the custom jewelry he made and sold online - he was missing an arm! I could not for the life of me identify what they were eating. The gray mush looked terrible. I finally asked, and they weren't really sure either. Not cool. They each had a cup of ice cream for dessert. The man to my left offered me his but I let him keep the only identifiable part of his meal.
It was late in summer last year when we put my cat down. It was the hardest good bye I could ever remember saying, and it brought me closer to the people I helped. My heart hurt so much ! At times I wept uncontrollably, even at my desk at work. I thought it would never stop. How much worse the pain must be for these suffering people, and for the family members suffering alongside them. Nothing brings comfort to the grieving and it's never easy to say goodbye to anyone you love (cats included).
Not long after the incident with my cat, I met Tom & Karen Hill. Tom had called me and I drove to the trailer park where they lived off the run-down part of Monument Boulevard in Concord. This was not a nice, safe, mobile home park. It was a messy, dirty, trailer park. On one of my visits Tom told me that the neighbors started coming around asking for pain pills after they heard his wife was sick. Karen wasn't just sick; she was dying. When I first met her, she wasn't able to get out of bed so I went into the small trailer and sat at her side. She was so small too and my heart was reminded of the man in Pittsburg. I left their home and sent a card a few days later. They needed me to return another time and I picked some flowers outside of my office and brought them with me. She still had them by her bed on my third visit, with my card taped to the wall. These were two amazing people. I wanted my husband to meet them, so I brought him with me on a visit. Karen didn't have long. She could no longer sign her name and was almost too weak to make her legal mark. It was hard for me, but I enjoyed talking with her. Near the end, she had her nails done with jewelry on her fingers. She told me she wanted something pretty to look at as she went to heaven. She then told me about her first marriage, and also how happy she was with her husband now. We talked quite a while. Through it all and my many visits, Wells Fargo in Concord was giving Tom hell as he tried to merge their accounts and get her finances in order. The progression of her cancer had been so fast and they thought they would have more time but it was only a couple months after her diagnoses and here she was, unable to get out of bed. The indescribable horrors he faced included them being difficult on the day hospice told him it would probably be his wife's last. He should have been by her side every second but Wells Fargo was too evil to allow this. I helped as much as I could as he dealt with them but their overall actions were sickening to me. I called Tom several weeks after his last call to me and asked how he was. When he said that Karen was gone I cried on the phone with him. He told me he couldn't bare to see her in such pain and was glad it was over. He reminded me to be happy and not cry for her. I still think about them both from time to time, and it still makes me sad. But happy too for having met them.
I try to remember to bring joy with me when I do notary services; well, really I try to be joyful every moment of every day. I never know what sort of person I'll be meeting when I get a call. Sometimes it's a mother with a newborn baby that just wants the convenience of someone to come to their home, and for $10 it's really worth it! And sometimes it's someone saying goodbye to their mother. But at all times, I want to leave the people I encounter smiling, even if their hearts are heavy. I truly believe smiles are contagious. I've been asked by strangers in our office building what I'm smiling about. I never have more of a reason than "it's a good day". Because EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY. Hug and kiss those around you, call the people you love, and smile at all the strangers. It's the easiest way to bring happiness to yourself and share little blessings with others.
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