The Little Things

So I have been struggling with what my next blog post should be. I know it's silly, but I had this idea in my mind that I would be like Julie Powell or Rachel Held Evans by the second post. I decided to to this blog for accountability, and to express myself, and yet I'm so worried about being profound. The funny thing is a lot of the writers I admire for writing about their challenge, I admire because of how they discovered it's important to be yourself, not try to live up to someone's standards.

I have found out that going back to day shift means I will be getting a lot more exercise. I mean day shift was pretty active before, but now I get to practice mad dashes to the door every time I hear an alarm sound. (This is not a lockdown unit like the Dolan. The doors are locked, but after 15 seconds an alarm will sound and the door will open. There's a sign on the doors informing them of that. A lot of people think my residents can't read, but a lot of them actually can still.) Also trying to shoo everyone out of the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about feeding them. I added toast to breakfast and apples to lunch. They sent extra fruit cups with dinner and I fed one guy 3 fruits and 2 deserts because he wouldn't eat his dinner. The thing is, when they go in the kitchen, which is no longer locked, they put their dirty paws on everything. So that's one thing off my list of things I need to work on. (Though I should probably exercise more on my days off.)

Speaking of work, I have recently found a wonderful thing, they love it when I pray! I started with one woman whose family took her out for church ever Sunday. Another one who always talked about guardian angels, I said the Lord's Prayer with her as she was dying, and I swear it looked like she was trying to recite it with me. So I've expanded it. Wherever I work, whenever I see a resident with a lot of religious paraphernalia around their room, I offer to pray with them as I put them to bed. They are usually surprised that anyone even asked and excited. These prayers are not masterful. They're stuttering strings of words because I suck at spontaneous prayer, but they always tell me how wonderful they are. One woman heaped praises on my head and handed me her shirt because she wanted to give me a present. Normally I am so despondent about how emotional I am, but in these moments, I don't feel bad for caring so much. It's so great to be able to share these moments of love and spirit.