A visit to Alzheimer nursing home

I was too bored, and found out Tzu Chi Organisation has a group in Kansas.
So I called them earlier this week, and found out they have this visit to the local nursing home today.

Went to the nursing home this afternoon. This is the first time I came in contact with Alzheimer and Dementia patients.

There were some simple interactive games and music instrument performances, but the folks seemed expressionless. And I thought we were just making a fool of ourselves, but I changed my mind when...

When I sat next to two old men and started to bring up some conversations, it striked me that they actually had very clear and attentive eyes, but one of them just can't respond to me. The other one could carry conversation, but can't control his body. His son lives nearby, but hardly drop by. He has a very pretty wife, who is 3 years younger than him.

I also sat next to a lady, who kept tapping her stiffened fingers on her laps, whenever music is on. She has a very strict and proud look. We were a pair when there was this finger exercise. She was pretty active, and was very friendly.

When one of the performer playing Beatles' Let It Be, she said she loved it. I can see she used to have long and slender fingers, cause even when they are crooked now, they are still longer than mine. I asked if she knows how to play piano, she said she used to play when she was young. You could tell she is a very well mannered lady, because even with all these difficulties, she still put on lipsticks and nail polish, without drawing them out of the lines.

But you could also see that she has a lot of stories, when she thanked me for being nice to her. I nearly cried, because it somehow showed how much a person could change, when facing with illness and age.

When all of us are young and healthy, who would have thought, one day they would become like this? Who would like to show their ugly side in front of others, especially when there are still some sanity left in us? The last thing they need is sympathy, what they need is respect.

I don't have a punch line to say, because I don't know how to calm myself down until I need to drive to Target and spend some money getting some junk food -- Tortillas, chocolates, cookies etc, bring them home and gallop them down my stomach. I felt better when my stomach is full, because the last thing I could do, were to show my tears when talking to them -- I tried real hard holding it in when I was there.