The Visitor

Being an advocate for our seniors , always creating awareness for the importance of visiting the seniors, now that privilege has been removed…Amidst the world chaos struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic, the awareness is still a valid cause. This poem speaks of what it means to an elderly soul who spends day after day in a long term care home and then is blessed with a visitor. Now with strong measures in place with no visitors allowed to help fight against Covid-19 in the homes. Please say a prayer for these dear loved ones. I wonder if the saying applies, “you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone”  

Morning dew
cool tired feet
caressing each step
I feel relief,
drowsy daisies
start to stretch
welcoming warmth
from evenings slumber

Relief though faint
strength is gained
amidst the
dawning glory,
unfolding promise
clings with certain
embracing grace
with daylight hues

Meadows green
of afternoon
the comfort of
someones touch,
the lonely ends
as smiles begin
welcoming love
amid the words

Once again
the cool returns
yellowing rays
turn into gold,
I bid farewell
a day well spent
contentment folds in
peaceful rest

KJS

I want to add a very important note, a huge thank you and prayers to all our health care workers putting their lives on the line everyday to care for our dear seniors. God bless them and keep them safe ❤

#Covid19 #seniors #elderly #visiting #seniorhomes #longtermcare #prayers#awareness #advocate #poetry

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The Visit

Through glass they view

the skies of blue

that turn to shades

of gloomy hues

 

Down long halls

encased grey walls

which hold the rails

that brace their falls

 

Beyond the doorway

shadows of ghosts

that linger awhile

to encourage and boast

 

Have they escaped 

this prison of age

their souls still restless

bound by this cage

 

Release their bondage

shatter the spell

this visit of kin

the final farewell

KJS

 

As an advocate for seniors our dear elderly, I encourage and admonish, your dear loved ones need an advocate, they need to have frequent family visits; for one day it will be you sitting wondering waiting, peering through panes of glass, looking through doorways, will they come today?

 

Don’t Leave Without A Memory

I loose my balance
stumbling on todays
catching a foothold on
perhaps and I hope so

Darkness overtakes the light
In search for glimmers
finding shards of rays
lighting the path of possibilities

Peering deep into her eyes
an inquest for clues of trust
yes I know her she comes often
a friend, a foe or family?

It’s me I’m here!
don’t leave without a memory
share with me the tales of today
for tomorrow I shan’t recall

~

If we could step inside the unsettled murky world of dementia, and in reality perceive
for a moment… what the dear souls that carry this heavy burden feel…what then?

A Death Sentence To Memory

We take for granted occurring thoughts that travel through our minds highway everyday! Miles of crowed lanes, speeding and passing, “I wonder why’s” and “I should have” but what about those REMEMBER WHENS? To someone diagnosed with Dementia, these are privileged, high valued precious moments, that may only take place on rare occasions, sadly becoming less and less with each passing day!

…It has been a little over six months since my mother has been diagnosed with MIXED AGGRESSIVE DEMENTIA. To see it written in black and white signed by the physician was startling, but witnessing it starting to play out in my mother’s daily life is heartbreaking, and excruciatingly life changing.

A Text book case?

Statistics show that this horrific disease is occurring in younger people everyday! this is both terrifying and alarming! I continue to review charts, graphs, and I refuse to let mom be just a chart, a number, another statistic, yes she has been handed a death sentence of MIXED AGGRESSIVE DEMENTIA but this does not mean her life has to stop and end without her dreams coming true! Educating ones self and creating awareness is one of the best swords in fighting depression with this disease! Every person that is afflicted with this demon is affected differently, no two are the same. The end result may be the same but the road and corners, trials, tests, and fears are different with each individual. I have worked and continue to work as a Caregiver with Alzheimer and Dementia, I witness this demon first hand, and pray for a cure everyday!

Find what avenues bring relaxation and release of sharing thoughts together…

Taking my mom for drives is the time when she seems to open up to me in her early stages of dementia. Driving back from a baby shower celebrating her great granddaughter mom turned to me and said, “Kathy I’m scared, I don’t know what is happening to me” I said, I know mom it is hard” I proceeded to share with her again how the doctor said her memory is going little by little, and some days faster than others. Mom shared her fears of her memory loss how she struggles remembering names, and what she did yesterday; “I want to go back home Kathy before I forget” I wept silent tears as I reassured my mother I will be here for her! I will do everything in my power to make her wish come true, “I will be with you mom when you cannot remember your stories and treasured memories I know them I will share them with you, together we will walk down this road of dementia together!”

Learning to Let Go

Learning to let go as a daughter, to let mom do things that make her happy, and not what I think is best all the time. Mom may want to wear her same favourite pink outfit five days in a row, let it be, just make sure it is kept laundered and let her wear it. If mom has decided for the time being she wants a brown hand towel hanging in her kitchen instead of the nice blue one that was bought to match, let it be! Educate yourself to learn to let go of your own wants for mom and let her have her own way, as long as it is not hurting her and makes her happy there is no harm.

~

Hints of paths
Decembers snow
my heart knows to follow
when cold winds blow
~
All but one
too many draw near
snowflakes of memories
are melting I fear
~
Captured magic
in moments of time
try to drift over
my journey inclined
~
Traveled often
as not to hide
keeping footprints visible
to hearts passing by
~
Untangling thoughts
of Christmas past
sharing the joys
making them last
~
With arms linked together
hearts trudge through the snow
my mother and I
catching memories as we go

KJS©

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