Hello my dawlinks! It's your Yenta. In all my travels I've seen all kinds of things; Oy vey az mier, liblings you wouldn't believe the things I've experienced! The exciting, the questionable, the "what WAS that?", the "how incredibly sheyn/beautiful", the "this was a G-d send!". This was one of those G-d sends.
I was shopping, as always, in the supermarket. Seems to be a daily blaybn shteyn/stop for me. I kibitz/chat with the people that work there, with other customers, even helping them find products from time to time. Why not? ... I know where everything is, unless it's been moved. I can't stand it when things get moved just when I dervisn zikh/learn where they are.
Anyway, there was a customer there with her tate/father, who seemed to be having the time of his life, while she was very frazzled, seeming almost on the verge of tears. Her cart was barely filled with groceries when her tate announced he wanted a balloon like he saw a child had. It was quite obvious at that point she had "had enough". Without missing a beat I stepped in and said I'd get him a balloon and asked what color he'd like. She staunchly said, "no", but he was excited, so off I went.
I walked the entire store to find them once I had the balloon in hand, a purple one. He was as elated as a four year old! To be honest, I couldn't remember where I had left my cart, but it didn't matter at that point. I geyn/walked with this young lady and tsuhern zikh/listened to her.
It seems she hadn't had anyone to express herself to in a very long time and was grateful. The family abandoned their father once they found out he had Alzheimer's disease. They won't talk to this young lady after she took charge of her tate either. The state won't help them, he has too much money in the bank, yet not enough to live on and she had to quit her job to care for him. She has become his malekh/angel. Sometimes, however, even angels need someone to turn to. 
As we were kibitzing, the tate was dancing with his balloon. It was quite the sight to see; he was as free and happy as a child, and a vundern zikh/wonder to watch. For a moment in time, just a moment, the woman smiled with me and saw the joy that I saw before she returned to her worries and woes.
At the check-out area, even the cashier joined in our conversation. This disease, this awful disease, has touched more lives than the angel daughter knew. There were a lot of hugs that day. The cashier, the bagger, the lady behind us, your Yenta… if I had made an announcement we could've gotten the whole store to line up for a hug fest perhaps!
Liblings, angels come to us when we're not looking. They arrive in the strangest of places, with the simplest of answers. Sometimes we miss it, sometimes we see it, sometimes we understand it months later. A conversation, a touch, a smile, a "hello", are all angel-sent.
The demands we have on our lives, nay/no, on our selves, cause us to sometimes miss these little acts. Open your hearts, bubbelehs, and you'll see/hear more angels. It couldn't hurt!
Your
Yenta
Yenta Tellabenta is truly a 'creation' for outreach and education with Lumigrate.com through storytelling and reinforcement of key concepts related to body, mind, spirit. Written by a very talented and somewhat mysterious younger wise woman who found her way to Lumigrate the summer of 2009, we hope you enjoy having your own Yenta with us at Lumigrate! Yenta (meaning 'town gossip' or 'connector') has a dedicated Forum at Lumigrate at http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/fibro... [1] and can also be found on facebook.
Links:
[1] http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/fibromyalgia-chronic-pain-and-chronic-fatigueexhaustion/it-cant-hurt-o
[2] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/angels-and-demands#comment-2414
[3] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/angels-and-demands#top
[4] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/login?destination=node/1997%23comment-form
[5] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/register?destination=node/1997%23comment-form
[6] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/angels-and-demands#comment-2415
[7] http://www.lotsahelpinghands.com/
[8] http://twitter.com/lumigrate
Comments
Yenta,
When all is said and done, the good things we have done to help people, to make them feel special, to make them smile, etc., will be what matters most in this life's journey. Bless you.
Alzheimer's is such a devastating disease. God bless the caregivers, theirs is not an easy task.
You told the story beautifully, as always. This is a nice post.
Thanks,
Alice
Alice Franklin was raised on a sandy beach in Point Clear, AL and lived along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Alabama in her youth, graduating from Fairhope High School on Mobile Bay. Prior to becoming disabled due to severe spine problems, she worked her way into management and purchasing positions in industrial manufacturing and art industries. She worked her way into Lumigrate unknowingly by impressively writing at Lent 2010 about utilizing her religious and spiritual beliefs with chronic pain/disease management (she has had fibromyalgia and chronic myofascial pain for decades); it turns out she holds the priesthood office of elder in her church and became active again in this office in May 2010 and has been pastor or copastor in previous churches. We are so very proud to have her words and thoughts gracing our 'pages' of this website and look forward to what the future holds for her.
As always, mah-vel-us, Yenta! And thanks to our Amazing Alice, always GRATE to see you stop by. You are two angels that came the way of Lumigrate THREE years ago right about now so this was such a wonderfully meaningful post from my standpont just on that account! I haven't forgotten and hopefully never will! ~~ Mardy
I want to suggest anyone who has someone they're part of giving care to go look at this website quickly and see if it's a beneficial idea to suggest 'for your person's care giving team'.
Lotsa Helping Hands is an organization I connected to via the Facebook page for the Lewy Body Disease FB page: My father died in 2010 from that particular 'overlapping disease' after having had chronic fatigue/ fibromyalgia (and the hypothyroidism which is a classic feature). www.lotsahelpinghands.com/ [7]
And this is one for EVERYONE -- if you're wanting to do something in your community to help any kind of people be organized, this is a website to look into. FREE too! This means everything to supporting military spouses, coordinating carpools, fundraishers etc.).
What I have found, being a part of innumerable teams of people who go through such things in my 50+ years of life and in particular in my years working as an occupational therapist and now a consultant and educator related to the "occupation of health care" via Lumigrate (occupation = tasks that occupy time), caregiving is an increasingly 'popular' issue in people's lives. To some extent this is financial, but upon closer investigation on my part, being the 'detective' I am with peeling the onion of people's health issues (for them or a loved one), it's people's CHOICE to care for their loved ones at home, at least for 'a while, while we can'. Many hands make for light work, and Lotsa Helping Hands can be an INVALUABLE tool, so I appreciate their being there and my having discvoered them a while back.
Thank you, Yenta, for providing a perfect place for me to work them into the conversation so people can find out about them. I hope everyone who reads your wonderful story, above, and Alice's amazing comment and this followup from me will grab the link and get it to someone they know with an aging or otherwise medically declining family member or friend.
That's how we come to use the word 'framily' around here. I can certainly attest to the influence of good caregivers: my father had a service contracted for twice weekly respite care for and he really looked forward to those entertaining women coming to attend to his needs. He'd want to take a shower and get dressed up for them but that was what THEY were coming for! GRINS.
And how interesting about the balloon, when he was passing, the idea of balloons to have floating around on the ceiling was what came to MY mind!
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [8] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!