I’ve made a lot of friends over the last several months. A very large number of these new friends have been children or young adults. And while I have befriended some young people in Malaysia, much of this month has been spent with a very different crowd.
This month, I’ve had the chance to spend time at a day care for dementia patients. These people don’t really need to be put in a nursing home, so they come to the dementia center so they can be supervised during the work day. We’ve been able to join them in their morning routine, which includes a morning walk, bingo, a game of catch, exercises, and singing.
Sometimes we have to introduce ourselves multiple times, and sometimes we answer the same question over and over, but overall, these people are a lot of fun, and in a way, it’s not so different from being with children. Exhibit A:
This is William. You know how in school, there’s usually that kid who’s so smart that he gets bored and finds trouble? William is the elderly equivalent. He’s a spry man in his late 70’s who still moves like a 30 year old. He laps everyone else on morning walks, and usually sings “When the Saints Go Marching In” while he does it. And that’s not all he sings. He also has a Chinese Communist song that he performs for us almost every day. During games of catch, his stated goal is to hit the German volunteer (whom he insists is Hitler’s granddaughter) in the head. But if he gets hit in the head, he fake cries and says “I’m going to tell my mommy you hit me!” Whenever he’s not busy with something else, he practices moves from a form of martial arts that he made up himself. In short, there’s rarely a dull moment when William is around.
Some other friends I’ve made:
This is Jenny. She’s a sweet lady in her 80’s. She’s a former police officer and she occasionally threatens to write citations if you do something she doesn’t like.
This is Betsy. She was coping pretty well with her dementia until the doctor suddenly took her off all her meds. Now most days she sits by herself in the corner and refuses to do anything. She was difficult to befriend. At first she answered all my questions with “I don’t know” or a headshake. But I was determined and kept talking to her and I’m pretty sure we’re friends now.
This is Popo. She has one of the most severe cases of dementia at the day care. Probably 75% of the time we were around, she was napping, but when she’s awake, she’s feisty and will endlessly scold you in Chinese.
This is Joseph. He’s a very proper man. His favorite song is Amazing Grace. He shows up each day with a button up shirt tucked into his slacks and dress shoes complete the outfit. He’s a pretty quiet guy, but he always has a witty response when William starts acting up. For example, when William was showing us how he can still squat down and do a duck walk, Joseph warned him that he had better not poop his pants while he was down there, because Joseph was not going to help him clean it up.
These are just a few of the wonderful people that we’ve had the privilege of encouraging and engaging this month. They may not remember us soon, but I believe, hope, and pray that God will allow the positive impact to last beyond their memory of us.
