Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Monday, October 07, 2013; 6:15pm-7:45 pm
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| Darcy |
I had signed up for the ‘Pet Therapy’ session and arrived to
find that some pets and owners had already assembled. I checked in with Maria, our Volunteer
Leader, and turned to play with the two dogs that we had in attendance –
Carline, an extremely enthusiastic 2 year old; and Darcy, a 3 month old
Retriever mix. Darcy in particular was
all over us, as you can expect from a puppy, and gave me small puppy
bites. I was hoping to be paired with
her for the evening. But we still had
some time to go before the commencement and I went over to chat with Jack, Larry and Jim, who asked if I was here for Bingo.
I said that I was here with the pets, at which he did a mock wave. The Volunteer Leader for Bingo, Maureen, came
over and said that many volunteers had cancelled on her this evening. She was definitely short-handed, while the
Maria seemed to have more than enough Non-Pet Owners. So I asked Maria if I could shift to Bingo
and since she did not have a problem with that, I told Maureen that I could join
her team. Looks like I was here for
Bingo after all.
One of the benefits of moving
over to Bingo was that I could be with my buddy Emma. I took a seat next to her and she seemed to
be in good spirits, and quite chatty as well.
She was wearing sparkly pink nail paint and mentioned that her daughter
was supposed to visit. I asked how her
daughter was and she said that she had just adopted two kittens. Well, I hope that she gets them for pet
therapy someday. Emma then talked about
how her dad used to put her siblings and her in a truck and take them all to
the zoo. I asked if she liked big or
small animals and she said all types.
She was excited to talk about those visits to the zoo and apparently it
was a splendid outing, complete with popcorn and ice cream. I’m glad that she can still remember those
days and still has those memories to cherish.
I could have sat and heard Emma
talk about her childhood for hours, but Bingo was about to commence. As usual I handed her a few chips, which she
clutched in her hand and we were ready to go. Right off the bat tonight was unique in terms
of the numbers going our way. And we
won! Maureen usually hands out dollar
bills instead of prizes and Emma took that $1 and stowed it away safely. We cleared the board and started the next
round… and we won again. Back-to-back,
what do you know. Emma said that it was
great to have some money since she was always broke. As Maureen handed Emma another dollar, she
said to her, “This is what a good looking
young man does. Bring you luck.” I guess she was referring to me.
The “Good looking man’s” luck brought Emma a third win, but since the
rules allow for only two prizes, we had to give the prize away. I said to Emma that they did not trust her
with all of this money! In fact, Maureen
was ensuring that the wealth was being spread evenly and everyone had a chance
to get something. This was very
important, and nowhere was it more evident when one gentleman won a dollar and
the joy on his face and his squeal of delight was both, heartwarming and
heartbreaking at the same time. Of all
the times I have been coming here for various projects, I had never heard this
man speak. And now this….for a
dollar. It drove home the point of how
sometimes it can be more precious than all the riches in the world.
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| The red chips were helping us |
Since Emma was enjoying herself,
I asked her more about her zoo trips from all those years ago. She said that back in her teenage years, she
used to walk to the zoo, which was just 3 blocks away from her house in St. Louis. I asked if she had been to the ‘Lincoln Park Zoo’ and she said in her
own inimitable style, “Oh yes.” As we continued to chat I learned that Emma
used to play tennis. Considering how
great her attitude is, it was not surprising that she was so active in her
youth. As the game went on, Emma
kept saying that the red Bingo chips were good.
She said it was her favorite color and I said I liked it too. Well, her favorite color was helping us a lot
as we won for the 4th time.
Once again we gave it to another resident who thanked Emma. For her part Emma kept saying how nice it was
that people were helping each other.
What a doll!
The game ended soon and I spotted
Elmer at a nearby table. I asked if he
had fun at ‘Get Crafty’ project
yesterday and he said yes, having made a ‘Suncatcher’
with Fran. She was standing right there
and I asked him if she had made him work like a “rented mule”. He said that
she had, at which Fran burst out laughing.
She said that he had not called her interesting words like he had with
me! Emma had thought that her daughter
was going to visit, but since she had not shown up, I went to drop Emma to her
room. I asked her how she was going to
spend her winnings. She said she does not
have much money and so would like to save it.
Her room was closed, so I dropped her at a table in the empty community
room on the 2nd floor. She
said that she really wanted to go in, but this was fine as well. Such a nice
soul, and I knew she would wait without complaining. I had come for one project but was leaving
after having attended another. I had hoped to be paired with the puppy Darcy, but had spent the evening with Emma
instead. It was the best thing that
had happened to me today.
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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