Yesterday we visited Trinity Mission nursing home. This place was described to us as "the place that accepted individuals that got rejected from everywhere else." I was personally nervous because I never enjoy nursing home visits and I'd heard from others that the patients they interviewed were barely coherent and extremely demented. Benjie and I got lucky though...
Mrs. M is an early 70's year old woman living in Trinity Mission. I wheeled her back up to the room, we grabbed chairs and we chatted for about an hour and did the mini-mental assessment screening. When I saw the pink cross hung up near her dresser, I asked her what she does during the day. She told me she reads the Scriptures and lamented that there weren't enough people in the nursing home that were genuinly interested in living their faith. If she's not reading the Bible, she's watching sermons on t.v. Later on, we found out that she comes from a relatively large family (she has/had 5 other siblings and three kids) but that she doesnt get visitors often. She blamed a lot of that on tension in her family as a result of her divorce. She cried multiple times during the interview; Benjie got her tissue, I patted her back and we sat in silence. She thanked us for allowing her to talk, "I'm sorry you had to go through this but if just feel so good to talk...All my life I've had friends, but I've never had really close friends. "
Hearing her story reminded me about what's important in life....our relationships. Her divorce had clearly resulted in a lot of heartbreak, mainly because of the tension it created between her and her children. But throughout her life, she had been lonely and still is. And if loneliness isn't one of the biggest side effects of being in a nursing home, I don't know what is. I hope that God can fill Mrs. M's heart with love and intimacy with him. After all, He is the lover of our souls and our heart's desire. Benjie and I are planning on visiting Mrs. M after exams.
As a side note, can you imagine living in a place where you have to get a new roommate every couple months because the other one died?
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An update on my adopted grandparent: I went to go visit the nursing home and drop off her gift of a Christian book on prayer and praise and a french lavender gift set only to discover that she wasn't in her room. I went to the nurses station and asked about her. Apparently, she had gone bizerk and was sent to the psych unit at UVA. I'll be back next month...
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