Insights from TRE by SeptemberOliveira
Wow! What a week here at “the Ridge” and in Lenox. “We survived”, has become a slogan around here and all around town, and we are all happy to be able to say that! I’d just like to say, how proud all of here at Taylor Ridge are about how quickly our community rebounded from last week’s Tornado activity. It isn’t everywhere that the people respond to their neighbors’ needs as speedily as you all did!
And now, for our week here at Taylor Ridge… Monday’s activities included Chat Lunch with Paula. We had a wonderful time visiting about our parents, and some of the games we used to play as children. We reminisced about our mother’s and shared memories we had of them on Mother’s day, and about our own mother’s days as mothers ourselves.
That afternoon we celebrated Lost Sock Memorial Day…and colored socks. Then I hid 2 special socks in the facility (one for clients and one for staff) and challenged everyone to find them for a prize! It has been so much fun that I’ve decided to continue the hunt for at least another week.
A great big thank you goes out to the Union Squares from Creston who came down Monday evening to entertain us with dancing. Everyone sure does look forward to your visits.
Tuesday was a quiet day with Wild Windows and Fitness. And then Wednesday we had our monthly shopping trip to Wal-Mart in Creston. We all joked about the rainy weather and how I got “baptized” (it was my first time taking everyone shopping). Ellen Grace joined us that afternoon for Hymn Sing. Thank you Ellen, we enjoy your visits.
As everyone in or around Lenox knows the tornado hit at the end of the day Wednesday. We want to thank our staff and community members for their quick response to the weather reports and for making sure that everyone in the building got to a safe shelter point for the duration of the tornado activity. You all did a great job!
On Thursday we did our best to keep things to “business as usual” and we had a nice group turn out for fitness. Of course all we could talk about was the tornado of the previous afternoon, but as the day wore on and family members came to visit or called…we found that things resumed their normal rhythm. Blaze and Roger Mc Cay came for their visit just after lunch and it was great to see and visit with them; thank you Roger for bringing Blaze out to see us.
I had the chance to play Pinocle with a group on Thursday afternoon. We sure do like our card games; we play different games every time we have an opportunity…so, if any of you like to play Bridge, Pinocle, or Pitch…feel free to come out and join us some afternoon!
We ended Thursday with Bible Study. Thank you to Pastor Mitch Green for leading us in a time of fellowship and introspection as we explore the Bible.
Friday morning we started the day with Church. Pastor Steve Wainwright joined us and led us in the service. Thank you to Pastor Steve and to the people who joined us from Vintage Park. We sure do enjoy church services! I’d also like to thank Linda Sickels who volunteered her time Friday afternoon to lead Bingo. As you all probably know…we enjoy Bingo out here…so much so, that when I was hired I was told, “There are only two things you should never mess around with trying to change…Church and Bingo”.
The week drew to a close on Saturday, as I led a new activity in which we celebrated National Chicken Dance day. Thank you to the kitchen staff, which, were on their break and joined us to dance the chicken dance! You ladies were awesome! We followed the chicken dance by listening and dancing to just about every rock song I have on my iTunes. What a fun afternoon! We decided that we should do that again at least one afternoon every month!
**Notable Quote**
“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”
-HENRI NOUWEN
