WEDDING DRESSES

“You know, Violet you would look better in my dress”!! I look in the room and there is Violet, with just a slip on and Mary sitting on her bed smiling. Mary says, very happily, “I am helping Violet with a dress for her wedding”!! I said, “I didn’t know Violet was getting married”! Violet speaks up and says” OH!! It is a surprise and no one is supposed to know”. I said “Who is the lucky man?” Than Violet told me how she met him many years ago at the church. She told me how he always liked her and told her someday he would marry her. Now, gentle reader, you must realize, Violet was not the brightest person but she believed in people. She wanted to make sure she looked ok if he should come to visit. Violet had been waiting years for this but to her it was like yesterday. Her face lit up talking about him and she just looked so very happy! It just made me love her all the more. ):>)!! Mary and Violet spent many days just trying on each other’s clothes. It was a big joke to some but I always smile when I remember those two.
They were as different as night and day. I had written about Mary before. She is the lady who was just beautiful for her age and had never married. Violet had never married either but her Father was a minister and she was raised mostly by him. She was very shy around people but after she was with us for a while she was ok with everyone. She just truly believed he was going to arrive.
It was a lot different for Helen and Francis. These two shared a room. I never really had a problem with two women sharing a room but, gentle reader, this was really different. They both wore the same size clothing and Helen was always putting on Francis’s slacks. The first thing you heard was “Helen, you have my slacks on”! Helen replied “No I don’t. I looked and the tag says their mine”. Francis would say,” I want to see”. Helen would show her the tag and ninety percent of the time it was Francis’s pants. Francis wanted her to change immediately and someone had to go with her because by the time she got them off she would forget and put them right back on. When people are diagnosed with dementia it was hard. Some folks were not too bad but others were really a sad case. You just have to have world of patience with them. I think this is where the saying ” patience is a virtue” comes in.
When it came to men sharing a room it could really get interesting. You would never believe how bashful they were with each other. It seemed like one would go to bed early and the other would stay up watching TV. Than when he would go to bed you would hear “Shut the light off I am sleeping”!! I didn’t allow smoking in the house and sure enough one would want to go out for a cigarette. Than it was “I hate the smell of smoke”!!You need to take a bath.””Can someone spray something to get rid of the smell”?
I am sure, gentle reader; you understand how different it was.
I had folks with Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Cancer, Parkinson and many others. They would treat each other with a lot of respect but sometimes they could get angry. There is a huge difference between Dementia and Alzheimer’s. Folks who had Dementia were usually very easy to get to do things. They could sit and watch TV or look at a magazine but with Alzheimer’s it was a whole new ballgame. They normally paced a lot and ask the same thing. When you had to answer the same question 30 or 40 times a day you were glad when your shift was over. I was lucky with the ones I had.
I did have one Alzheimer’s person who really put me thru my paces!!
That is a story for the next time, gentle reader, and so check back in a few days…..
Love, Red