A Nursing Home "Gardener"

--by speedi, posted Dec 18, 2008

My daughter reminded me yesterday of a story that happened several years ago. I worked in a nursing home for several years and had kind of adopted one wing, where the residents had few guests/visitors, and stayed manily in their rooms or in the hallway outside there rooms. I went down on my breaks just to check in, to see if anyone needed or wanted a bit of extra TLC. I gave them "flower" nicknames so I could share some of there stories with my kids without revealing there identities. The residents all knew I had nicknames for them. I called them my own private garden.

One day I happened to overhear one of them say, "I wonder if dandelion is coming today?" "Of course, she always comes answered another." I admit I wondered why they named me after a weed. A few months after overhearing this one of my special flowers was doing poorly. I sat beside Daisy's bed and tried to encourage her to drink just a bit. She did, just to make me happy, and then we talked a bit. She said, "I have to tell you, Daisy is very tired and ready to go home. Please don't be sad."

And then she said she had a secret to tell me. I smiled and said awesome because I love secrets. She said that she and others in that wing had watched me over time. She said, "you sit with us, read to us, help us write letters, adjust a collar, help with a missed button, comb our hair and share so much of your time with us. At first when we realized you named us all after flowers we called you a dandelion, all fluff and stuff, but as time went on, we changed that and now we call you our butterfly, you flit from flower to flower, sharing, caring, and just being yourself." She said she was tired and wanted to take a nap. I kissed her cheek, told her I loved her and would see her in the morning. Sadly, she passed away that night.

I never forgot her words about being a butterfly and tried from then on to raise my kids to become butterflies to touch in good ways the lives of other people wherever life's journey took them.

Thanks for reading and please go be a butterfly with your beautiful smile and wonderful smile cards.

4880 Reads

Posted by speedi
Dec 18, 2008
Comments (15)

Readers Comments

AURELIA wrote: Very Sweet and Touching. I love your garden idea and you are a lovely butterly. :0) ~Aurelia

carmenb333 wrote: That is beautiful! Thank you for that story!

molly273 wrote: This is a beautiful story! What a wonderful difference you made to those people. Thank you!

JuneBug wrote: Your story wasn't long at all! I thought it ws one of the best ones I've read in awhile....How adorable!!!! :}

lovebug wrote: I just want to tell you, for just a brief moment your reminded me a very moving moment in my human life. I live in Alabama, for me it is God's kingdom. I went to a place called Little River canon, for a city girl raised in concrete it was very remote. But I stood in the middle of a small stream that had be devastated by drought, such a small stream of water not flowing very well, but I do remember what I saw. I saw what I preceived as a thousand monarch butterfies, gathered together in a small stream that seemed to flow to no where, I do remember that moment in time, it was so very small, but I did recgonize , God knew what He was doing and He would show me His beauty in the very small moments of time. God Bless you speedi. I am indeed honored to meet you in this small moment of time. You give me hope, and Hope is all that is neccisary. God Bless you. Lovebug

MakeSomeoneSmile wrote: What a beautiful story, thanks for sharing. The world could use more butterflies!

liztree wrote: Such a beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing it.

tressyanne wrote: awesome story. thank you for sharing.
how beautiful! I agree with MakeSomeoneSmile that the world does need more butterflies and people like us can make such a difference.

cabbage wrote: You are a beautiful butterfly! Thanks for sharing your story....and thanks for inspiring us all.

LOAS wrote: I am really going to have to invest in a box of kleenex if i am going to keep reading these stories (which i intend to do! ) lol.

This is a beautiful story. My stepmother worked in a nursing home and i went there with her a few times. She was very loving and caring to those older ones and i was impressed with the way she treated them. While she was not the best step mother, to me and my brother, it allowed me to see that she wasn't all bad and that there is hope for her to blossom into a butterfly like you.

Thank you for sharing. :)
Loas

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