The Veteran, Visit one

Currently, I work in a Catholic nursing home, doing medial things. Whenever I have a free moment I like to sit in the dining room. I watch all the residents of the nursing home I see some hopeless elders, I can pick out the chatty gossip queens of the nursing home, I also see the confused, and sleeping.

So far in my 4 week period of working there, I have become attached emotionally to three residents, without them fully knowing me. Two of them have servere memory loss. For the sake of abiding by my contract, I've changed names.

Theres Violet, She has long light grey hair, always up in a ponytail. She looks at me every time I interact with her as if she's lost. She often is holding on to a stuffed 'If You Give a Mouse a Muffin' She hold it like a teddy bear, going to protect her from monsters from under her bed. I have no idea why I hold Violet so Important to me, But I just see something in her.

The Second is a man named Michael, he sits at a table with two other men. The first time I saw him, I saw my own father, and that just scares me. Everytime I remind myself that that is how my dad will look within the next 40 years, and that scares me. I'm not so much afraid for myself to die, I'm afraid to see my Father so weak, and drawing day by day closer to death. I'm afrad to see my father die. And that's why Michael stands so close to me in my mind. Because when I see him almost everyday, it's like a huge comfort laying on my mind.


Finally to whom I've actually had some communication with. Randy sat alone at his dining table waiting for lunch. He sits in his wheel chair, his long, aged, and wrinkled fingers are laced and placed in his lap. His head is hunched down. He taps his right foot on the floor, maybe keeping rhythm. On his right arm, he has a faded military tattoo, from his younger days in the army. Today I for some reason felt like I could look at people and just know how weathered their soul was. Randy looked up at me and smiled, and I smiled just because. I have no idea where it came from but he struck my interest, I wanted to be friends with him. So I asked if I could sit with him while he waited for his lunch. His voice was deep and course from multiple decades of talking. Today's conversation was very brief due to lunch. He told me a bit about his Army career. His fingers were long, and perfect to be a piano player, though he added he loved music, but could never play anything. When His lunch came, I had to get back to work. And he smiled at me, and I couldn't help but give him a big smile back. I just see the Wisdom and the goodness of him, and I would love to keep learning more about this special resident, Randy, the veteran.