Seniors alone on the holidays!
This is a wonderful reminder about seniors alone. The focus is on holidays but in the new assisted living facilities, it can be lonely any time. Imagine living in a building where the one thing you have in common is your age and very little else.
My mother lives in a retirement community called Aston Gardens At Tampa Bay near Westchase, which is not far from my house. Although I have two brothers, they live far, far away and are not able to be directly involved in her day to day life. There are about 350 apartments and villas in her complex, many of which are occupied by single seniors, primarily widows.
Mom has lived there for over eight years and has seen many of her friends leave, some of their own or their families choosing, others....well! They put a rose and a picture on the piano in the grand foyer for these wonderful people who have been called away!
Many other residents who live there; unfortunately, do not appear to have any family or at worst any family that care! They are always alone, rarely have visitors and the holidays must be very lonely for them.
I am able to adjust my schedule (heck, I am the chief cook and bottle washer among a thousand other jobs) so that I have Brunch with Mom nearly every Sunday. We always sit with 3 - 4 of her friends and she never hesitates to introduce me to someone else in the room that may not know me. I won't tell her that I been introduced before, because often then other person doesn't remember me either!
Yesterday I attended Thanksgiving Brunch with Mom and a few dates.....................
We had a wonderful meal, mom told lots of embarrassing stories about my childhood and the other ladies smiled, laughed, chatted and "hopefully" for a little while, lifted out of their loneliness and will keep fond memories of the moment!
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