Lessons from Assisted Living

We will be meeting new people for a few days as my mother-in-law gets settled in her new assisted living apartment.

Lesson 1. I am SO greatful for the cheerful staff. It is amazing how much a friendly, cheerful voice and a helping attitude mean when you are working with elderly people. Patience is a much needed virtue as well.

Lesson 2. One of the ladies we met had this to say: "This place may not be everything I want it to be or everything you want it to be, but it a pretty good place!" I thought that was a good attitude - recognizing that while everything is not "perfect" things are still pretty good.

Lesson 3. From my mother in law, in reflecting on her day - she got to go to church, a little different, but still very nice. She had friends from her church bring her communion. She actually felt like eating and seemed to enjoy it. She marvelled and was so pleased that she felt like eating. We sat out in the courtyard and listened to the birds and watched them. At the end of the day, she decided that she had had a pretty good day.

Lesson 4. When I was sitting out on the courtyard, she said something about other things I could be doing. I could truthfully say that there was nothing more important for me to do right then than sit in the courtyard with her. Priorities . . . spending time with her is top on the list right now.