The Door & Clyde...

This afternoon was 'Sing at the Nursing Home' time. I headed into Georgetown to join Papa in entertaining the residents for an hour.

Usually Mimi is right there or they bring her in right after we start the program. Today she was not in the multi-purpose room and never showed throughout the entire program.

After Papa and I sing he will do some instrumental music. He plays some on the harmonica and some on the mandolin. I left while Papa did that to check on Mimi.

Mimi's room is at the end of the hall. I started down the hall and realized part of the problem could be that they are putting down the wood floors in the hallway. There is lots of 'stuff' in the way.

When I got to Mimi's room the door was closed. They do this if they are changing one of the residents. But what caught my eye was the typing paper taped to the door. It said something about 'this room has been terminally cleaned'. It said that at the top of the paper and in the middle of the paper. Hmmm...there was something about not moving the bedding and a grid to check things off. What did this mean?

I asked the workman if he knew what they were up to with this sign. He had no clue.

I knocked on the door and got no answer. If they had been changing someone, the CNA's would have responded. So I opened the door a bit and saw that Mimi's roommate was in her bed and I could see Mimi's curled up body in her bed. Soooo...I entered.

Mimi was busy talking to herself. She did look up and give me one big grin. I could see nothing in that room that fit with the sign outside. I stayed with mom until time to help Papa put the muscial instruments and things back in his car.

As I passed the nurses station heading to help Papa, I asked the nurse dispensing meds before dinner time about the sign on Mimi's door. I asked her what 'terminally cleaned' meant.

She looked a bit surprised and then grinned and said, "I really don't know." Then she thought for a second and said, "That is really confusing language isn't it?"  Yep, I would call it a mite confusing. She figured the room had been thoroughly cleaned and that was it but she wasn't sure.

I was sure my mom was okay so I headed in to help Papa.

Clyde was sitting at his table and wanted to hold my hand and kiss it. Such a gallant figure that Clyde. Then he showed me his latest drawings.

Mr. Graves is an artist whose mother resided in the nursing home until she deceased. He comes in once a week with his art supplies and helps those residents who are interested to draw and color. At present, Clyde is his stand out student.

Clyde draws cars and then colors them in. He has lots of papers where he has drawn a simple car or truck and colored it in. There are all sorts of colors of cars and trucks. Mr. Graves even had him doing some with water color and some with colored pencils. Clyde revels in his artist abilities.

Today Clyde had three new drawings to share with me. I oohhed and aahhed over each of the three, finding compliments for each picture. Clydes face beamed. As I started to leave, Clyde asked which picture I wanted. I chose the green truck with the purple wheels. Purple is my favorite color so it seemed appropriate. Clyde beamed even more to be able to give something he made away.

I never ceased to be amazed at how little things that don't cost hardly anything can bring so much joy in life. We always seem to be looking for something that is the biggest and the best, but really and truly, simple gifts touch our hearts just as well.