The Daybreak board met at 11:30 today for its lunch meeting. A part of the Department on Aging, Daybreak provides adult day care for people with dementia or memory loss. The director Tammy is a skilled administrator, a compassionate caregiver, and a good cook. Lunch was baked spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread.
The board meets every other month and consists mostly of running through the numbers: budget, census, etc. There is a lot of comradery among the board members, who include professionals in health care and elder care, along with a woman from the local newspaper. And me. I say little at board meetings and have never figured out what my usefulness is to the board. I listen a lot, and daydream a little. On the wall of the board room is a copy of a painting at the Toledo Museum of Art called The Country Gallants: two boys and two girls crossing a river in the woods. Two of my parishioners are among the clients at Daybreak. It was good to see them today. Once a month I lead a men’s group, often playing Jeopardy on the Wii with the men.
This afternoon Linda and I went to see Trouble With the Curve, a baseball movie with Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams. It’s a film about elder care, among other themes. It was a bit predictable till the end when the plot throws a curve ball at you. Life does that.
I’m glad you care for them–I’m an elder myself, after all; who knows when I might be wanting the same kind of attention?
I pray you will receive gracious, compassionate care when it is needed. I will need that care at some point in my life too. I will turn 50 next year. Not so old, but the time sure goes by quickly. Tempus fugit. It seems like yesterday I was 25. I walk along the halls of care facilities and wonder when it will be my turn.
I lived in a nursing home for a little over a month in 2008. I was surprised with how much resentment many of the residents had. They seemed to resent that their lives (capabilities, mobility, pereceptive abibilities) had deteriorated before they were “ready”.
I guess the only way to “prepare” for the nursing home is by accessing what it takes to make you happy… If it is externals – a room of a certain size, “career” goals etc. – you’re in for a shock. If your happiness is internal (from within) or eternal (from God) knowing your happiness is not dependant of something outside of ourselves being a certain way, but understanding that happiness is a choice that we make where ever we are, and that we can always find things to be happy about, then our last stay can be a good one.
Your thoughts on the roots of happiness are profound. Thank you.
…yeah,that was a great comment