Old People
Mr. Herring is one of the 'old people' I take care of.
I love my 'old people' and I hope they don't mind
that I call them that, 'cause it makes
me smile.
He getting up there, turns 90 this year.
I first met him 10 years ago, he has
a prankster, ornery attitude
that makes people
feel like they just
want to pull up a chair to sit a spell.
He has Alzheimer's
now, so the stories
are always the
same...but as
my grandpa often said,
"you've probably heard this before,
but it bears repeating!"
(He told the same stories a lot too)
I had the privilege of taking
him to the symphony in
the park on the 4th of July.
He rarely goes out
any more, but he was so
excited to go.
We ended up staying for 3 1/2 hours
I couldn't believe it...he was
having so much fun listening
to the music, and of
course, we had to stay
for the 1812 Overture,
because there were real
canons going to go off!
He even met the canoneer after!
It makes me miss my daddy, no where
near 90, but I think that's why
I like taking care of old people,
my daddy's gone now and
my mama lives in Oregon, so
I take care of people in
honor of them.
Mrs. Herring is a cutie patootie.
Her birthday was a few weeks
ago and I took her a crown for her party!
Isn't she so cute!
She use to be my kid's piano teacher
and though we rarely hear
her play now, on
her birthday she
gave it a go.
We gathered around
to sing.
Her gnarled hands hitting plenty
of wrong notes, but no one
cared...because Mrs. Herring played.
I've taken to praying with her
when we do things that
are hard...and
singing to her too.
The first time I sang, I felt a little
silly, but I knew it was the
right thing to do...
and after we did the 'hard thing,'
Mrs. Herring
smiled.
Oh and here's a funny story...
Mrs. Herring likes
to kiss goodbye on
the lips...I
usually just shake Mr. Herring's hand
but one day I went in for a hug...
and he gave me
a raspberry!
And there's Jerry...she's
discouraged.
A lot.
Sometimes when I visit her
she's very sad but
by the time I'm ready
to go I see her
smile.
But not lately.
I've told her I miss it.
I prayed out loud for God
to help her find her smile
(I've never really liked praying out loud, so I am
reminded when
I do that it's what my parents would always
do when they left someone's house after
visiting and that makes me feel happy... to be like them.)
Will you pray for her with me?
One day, before the
sadness became huge,
I took her out to
the Goodwill. Oh my goodness,
it was like taking a kid to the
candy shop....I even had to
give her a 10 minute warning
to leave or we'd have been
there all day!
When she goes out,
she says she feels like she's escaping...
she lives in a retirement home.
Do you see them?
Old people?
Sometimes when I visit
my mom in Oregon, seeing
the folks in her retirement
home reminds me
that I need to really look at them
in their eyes, because
really seeing people matters...
No matter how old they are.
Many of them are
forgotten
and they don't look at people
in the eyes.
And that's
just too sad.
Find an old person soon would you?
Look them in the eye and
listen, even if you've heard
their story
before,
maybe even
hold their hand
and pray for them.
Look for smiles
'cause sometimes
those get lost.
Blessings,
Deedee
