Is always interesting. I feel that after this summer I will have sermon illustrations for the rest of my life. Sometimes I just want to cry because I am filled with sadness, pity, anger, and frustration about what these dear people are having to deal with. Sometimes I want to run away because I am scared of them - of how they do not remember me, because they are combative, and because they are so scared - and I don't know how to help.
But then, I just want to laugh because they are so funny! Not laugh in a mean way, but just laugh because - they say the greatest things. They laugh at themselves all the time.
Throughout the last week, there have been NUMEROUS tornado warnings. Because it would be impossible to get 600 nursing home residents to the basement, they all must leave their rooms and come into the hallway or lounge where there are no windows. This makes them mad. Usually this is because they were sleeping, or watching Jeopardy, or just don't want to socialize. My favorite quote from all these experiences is this: "Excuse me dear, but can you please tell me why I am in the hallway in my nightgown?" To which I replied, "Yes, I can. There is a tornado warning, so to keep you safe we needed to bring you in the hallway." This woman looked straight up at me, eyes ablaze and said, "So what you're saying is I'm going to die here in the hallway with all these other suckers in my nightgown? What a way to go."
You just have to laugh sometimes. Because 5 minutes later, she had forgotten the conversation. So we had it again. And again. For 2 hours.
What do you do??
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1 comment:
This makes me laugh so hard, because I worked on an Alzheimers unit for a summer as a "housekeeper", and I had so many conversations like this with great residents. My favorite was awoman who thought my cleaning cart was a dessert cart, and she kept asking me for cake, and trying to take "treats" like toilet bowl cleaner from me. She also would think I had broken into her house, and couldn't understand why I was there cleaning in her room. She'd swear at me until I fled the room. I have to tell you that I really appreciate the nightgown comment!!! :) Miss you!!
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