This morning I went to an assisted living facility to pass out hygiene kits for seniors.
It was an incredibly easy gig. The hygiene packets were already neatly assembled. All we had to do was hand them out. And it was a pretty small facility, so it didn’t even take that long. Volunteering – it’s fun and quick, baby!
Senior citizens are so freaking cool. I don’t want to generalize too much, but man I love older people. Older people are just so interesting! They have so much life experience, and knowledge, and such.
One woman was watching The Price is Right when I came to her room. We obviously were best friends right away.
One man had his door wide open, inviting people to come visit with him. He was so organized! It was as though I were visiting a library or something. He had shelves full of DVDs and CDs – but all very neatly labeled and sorted. He told me a bit about his passion for music and movies.
He was very artistic too. He’d made a colorful awesome-looking rug that he told me about. He was just super cool.
There was one woman, walking very briskly down the halls. I can’t even tell you how many laps she did while I was there. I admired her for working on her fitness, and I secretly hoped she was training for a running event… I also hoped that I’ll be like her when I’m older.
Also, there was a woman who had bracelets on. One of the volunteers said her bracelets were beautiful and asked where she’d gotten them. And the women – the elderly woman in the assisted living facility – answered, “my Daddy.” Her face lit up as she told us about her father whom she loved so dearly.
I thought it was the cutest thing.
Both the volunteer coordinator (from the charity that goes to many senior centers), and the woman she was working with (who was employed at the actual facility itself) were very nice to me and invited me to come back in the future.
The woman from the facility said I should run a game night sometime. She said the men there would really love to see me around, which I thought was hilarious – but maybe it was just the way she said it, ’cause I don’t think it translates in as funny of a way when I write it down.
The volunteer co-ordinator complimented me for being “good with the seniors,” which I appreciated – though I think that basically just means “good with people,” ’cause I treated them how I’d treat any new friend. But, you know, I’ll take a compliment, baby!
I’ll be volunteering with the group again (Volunteer Action For Aging) at a future Beauty Day for Senior Citizens because seniors rock. That covers it.