Day 495

Miss Lilly never disappoints a crowd! The love she so freely offers is returned in abundance. She absolutely enjoys her job!

Every once in awhile (in Memory Care), we discover an individual who may not be in the mood for that puppy love. It is up to me to avoid a potentially unpleasant encounter, but Lilly seems to read the crowd quite well and sachets around to the next friend.

This week, with one of our favorite groups, we even watched Dog TV together. Almost everyone was entertained by the show AND Lilly's rapt attention to the screen. However, there is one resident who is not enraptured with our girl. When we make the rounds, she always announces that she raised puppies and she is DONE! Both Lilly and I respect her stand, but also encourage her to share stories about her puppy raising. It seems we are making progress!

It is my philosophy that if you meet someone a little over halfway, eventually, you can meet somewhere near the middle. As a parent and teacher, my goal was to make challenges into teachable moments. The same can sometimes hold true for our seniors in Memory Care.

In my lifetime, there have been two beloved ladies who were diagnosed with dementia. Caring for my mom and then our sweet Shirley, I learned so much about grace, acceptance and dignity. As their ability to remember and comprehend slid slowly away, their feelings of being powerless increased. Even when it was difficult, I made every attempt to give them a choice. Like children, giving these ladies two equally acceptable options worked like a charm.

We have all had moments when it feels like all power and options are in the hands of someone else. By remembering that feeling, perhaps choices can be offered to those who are in our care...young and old alike. Dignity can be retained and calm will prevail.

Lilly and I will keep working on our friend in Memory Care. In the end, our Golden Girl is pretty hard to resist!