Reminiscing
Hey kiddo. Come here a minute, will ya? I looked up and saw one of my favorite little old guys waving me into his room. When I peeked into his room he patted the spot on the bed next to him for me to sit down. He had the most amazing treasure sitting there.... this old leather bound book filled with all these photographs from WWII. It was like a yearbook of sorts that only had pictures of local service men and women from the area. Although he seemed oblivious to them, tears rolled down this proud man's cheek as he pointed people out in the book, smearing his calloused finger along images of old friends and neighbors, talking about awards he had won and the places he got to see. It was just so neat. I felt honored that he wanted to show me something that was obviously so precious to him. The really cool thing is that we were able to pick out quite a few of the other nursing home residents in there, some already gone, but many I remembered quite fondly. They all looked so young and handsome and proud in those pictures. It made me think..... when I'm old, what will I be proud of? Which photographs will I enjoy showing off?
The whole experience really touched me and left me feeling rather emotional. I mentioned it to some of the other nurses and encouraged them to seek him out and ask about his book. They did. I think we all need a good morale boost from time to time.
The whole experience really touched me and left me feeling rather emotional. I mentioned it to some of the other nurses and encouraged them to seek him out and ask about his book. They did. I think we all need a good morale boost from time to time.