I have more grannies than you! =P

I've been at work today again... It was a quiet morning. One of the few ones... So far I didn't tell you what I'm actually doing in the retirement home. Well... I'm not a registered (geriatric) nurse and so I'm not allowed to do all the medical stuff, but besides that I do everything that needs to be done (washing, feeding, helping people to get dressed...) Some of the residents are still pretty independent, others are in bed all the time. Some know exactly who you are, others are constantly meeting new people. When my Mom was trying to talk me into it, I didn't wanna do it because I thought I wouldn't like it and one of the worst things that can happen to you is a job you don't like but which is about taking care of people. Finally I promised her, I would at least give it a try... and now I really like my job. Yeah, you DO have to clean up some mess kind of every day - but I got used to it and don't care about it anymore. So what did I learn?

I never thought that it would be that much fun :) Working in a place like this, you develop a special kind of humor. It's not about making fun of people, but you have either cute, hilarious or comic situations almost every day. It's not easy to understand this humor for an "outsider", but as soon as you encounter somebody of "your trade", you have stories to share...
Since my Mom and I work at the same place, we have to share a lot now. Poor Dad. Poor middle sister. They have to listen to our stories pretty often. Sometimes I think, they can't stand them anymore, but I enjoy this "common denominator" with my Mom. We've never had so many conversations before and I learned to respect her job a lot more and to appreciate her as a colleague. (My Dad still has to wait for this a year or two... he's a teacher, so there is still hope... =)

I learned that it makes a difference to your day when you can make a difference to somebody elses day. Hey, and if you even get paid for it... there's nothing better that can happen to you! Honestly, I've been blessed by this job in many ways, but one blessing a "paper-job" could have never given me are relationships. The picture is actually already 2 years old, but the two people in there are still the same. One of them is my "special grandma" and the the other one is her "darling" or "sparrow" =) (strange, I know, but it sounds as weired as if Germans would call their loved one "honey"). Today, she gave me body lotion and told me to take it to Bolivia so that I won't forget her. Before I went to the States, she gave me some chocolate for the trip. I wrote her (and some others) for Christmas when I was in West Virginia and my Mom told me that some of them were really moved that a young and busy girl didn't forget about them. Sometimes, it is sad when a loved person dies - and it is even more disturbing for some residents there, asking themselves who will have the next heart attack. They appreciate a friendly and energetic young person more than I would have imagined. Last week, one of the older ladys told me that she liked me because I was always smiling and friendly. Having to be there is sad enough, she said. A smile actually doesn't cost anything but your own bad mood.

And there is one more thing, working with elderly people made me aware of: the character you formed when you were young will survive every other ability you might lose when you get older. Bad character traits might even get worse! Impatience, intolerance, lack of compassion, being demanding... might have a longer life than your memory. I mean as a young person, you tend to push uncomfortable thoughts about the aging process away or are happy to be able to look forward to Jesus coming back within your life time, but your willingness to work on your character now might save some people like me a lot of trouble... Actually even the opposite. The facility I work at is a Christian one and we have people who are early birds and pray for us staff before they even eat breakfast! You can be a blessing if you learned to be patient, tolerant, compassionate... And believe me - you definitely need these character traits in a retirement home to not go crazy yourself! (Well... and they might be pretty convenient for heaven anyways if there is not enough time anymore...)

This wasn't an exhaustive list about what working in a retirement home has taught me, but it were 4 of the more important aspects. I also learned a lot about the job of a geriatric nurse itself, but I would have never expected to like it that much. God can change your heart when you're willing to change your mind - and just try it. I knew I had a passion for working with young people, but God showed me that I shouldn't ignore the older ones either because he loves both and he never intended to have the different generations separated like that. We can benefit a lot from genuine and open minded interaction between old and young! And it might make us young ones a bit wiser because we can see what counts in the end. I wish you a "special grandma", too. It's really nice to be called "darling" at 7am when you wake a person up and are still tired yourself. I will miss it in Bolivia!

Happy Sabbath!
maria