Every Thursday a group of us get to visit the nursing home down the road from our house. I never imagined I would love this ministry so much, it's never been something I'd really experienced before. The first time I went to the nursing home I about cried, my Granny was really sick and I couldn't help but thinking about her the whole time. My Granny passed not too long after that and in the process of dealing with it all, I really thought about the life she lived. So often I don't think about the lives people have lived, I just see them as they are now, but hearing stories of my Granny and remembering her made me think a lot! I've been back to the nursing home many times since then, and I now see everyone there through very different eyes. I don't just see sweet old ladies or sick people, but I know they all have so many stories to tell!
I've had the opportunity to sit with some of the ladies who live there, they love to share pictures and stories. They'll show me all their children and grandchildren and my favorite part is to hear about their husbands, it's obviously their favorite part too. I haven't heard one of them say a bad thing, one lady named Miss Betty gushes about her husband, she says "he was the best, every week at church when the pastor would ask who wanted to pray he would get up there and pray for everyone, it would take half an hour but he didn't miss a soul. He was a good man." I love to hear the moments that these women really hold precious in their hearts. I feel like I know a big piece of who they are just by the few stories they share with me. I feel like every time I talk with one of them I get a better glimpse of what's really important in life, what are those memories that they hold on to.
A couple weeks ago I met a lady named Miss Kathleen, I met her the day before her 90th birthday. She might have had 90 years behind her, but you would never know it, she was so young at heart! We walked into her room and she was looking through a photo book her family had her, she showed me all of her family, the place she used to live and all of her dogs! While we were talking a nurse walked past, and Miss Kathleen tells me her goal is to make that girl smile! She said everyone has a smile in them and she just wants to help it come out! I have literally known her for less than a month, but I think about the things she tells me and the way she lives her life a lot! She's not wrapped up in herself, she's always trying to bless someone else, to bring joy to them! I can just tell she's lived a very full life, and I really look up to her for it!
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| Miss Kathleen and me. |
