Noel Nouvelet ♥

Dec. 2^nd, 2 hrs 45 min:

Arriving at the center today, I was proud of myself. I had completed all the homework that I had due for the weekend by noon today, so when I arrived at the facility, I was the happiest girl on the planet. I had a lot of time that I could spend that day at the center to keep me going on this project. I walked in, and was told to set up chairs, that my school would be putting on a flute recital in an hour. I proceeded to set up the chairs, and set up all the wrong ones. What a joy, to set up, take down, set up, and then later take down. J But it was fun anyway, because I got to interact with the residents that were sitting in the lobby waiting for the performance to start.

I finished, we prepped for bingo that would be going on after the performance, and then got to go door-to-door to announce the activities. I felt like I was back at my jobs at home, knocking on the patients doors, asking how their day was, and then asking (and trying to convince some) to come participate, was just what I do at work on a daily basis. It added to my fabulous day.

During the performance we got to set up the Christmas tree out in the lobby. Christmas music was quietly playing on the intercom system, and it was amazing to be able to do that. First off, who doesn’t love Christmas tree decorating? But more importantly, I usually help decorate the house for Christmas when I am home, and this year, for some reason, I didn’t. I hadn’t realized what a big part of Christmas that was to me until I was hanging ornaments listening to the flutists play. It was the perfect start to my Christmas season.

The recital ended, and suddenly there was a mad rush of wheelchairs to the kitchen for bingo. Picture Black Friday shopping, only with everyone in a wheelchair. Yep, that’s the best way I can describe it to you. We started, with no one for me to help, at least that was how it first appeared. I sat down next to some women who seemed to be doing just fine, until I was paying attention. These poor women weren’t realizing that they were missing at least every other number, just passing them over on the card when they were looking for them. So by the end of the game, I had helped them win 9 bingos, and was overseeing 7 cards, three women. I had my hands full. What was worse, I was dozing off like crazy. The week before Dead Week should also be given a name, because you don’t sleep that week either.

The women were very sweet to me, but the thing I noticed today was that the women generally seem to get more embarrassed about their aging symptoms than the men do. I tried my best to decrease the humiliation, but they let it bother them more that I was reaching over them to point out numbers that they had missed. I also noticed that they are so grateful. One patient in particular kept thanking me every single time that I helped her, and then again when she was handed her prizes for winning. It was a good reminder to always be expressing gratitude for what others do for me. The elderly generation, overall in my experience is a more grateful people.