On Halloween Anna, Elena, Kenan, Cleo, and I went to Camillia Rose with costumes on to go see mom and the rest of the folks. Well, the kids and the dog were dressed up anyway. Kenan was not too happy in his pumpkin suit, but Elena was all smiles as Tinkerbell. They were so adorable. I dressed Cleo up in a pumpkin costume and we made our way around. The people there were all smiles as we walked through there. Some people thoroughly enjoyed the kids and some were just thrilled to see Cleo dressed up-it was so very sweet. One lady stopped me and said, "Oh, I just love dogs!" Cleo went over to her and licked her fingers and let her pat her on the head. People sure got a kick out of us walking around there! When we got up to the third floor I remembered I had a patient that I used to see that now has severe alzheimers that lives at Camillia Rose. I went over to her and she was just blank. I looked around me and all the people in the room had blank expressions, were mumbling, or just vacant. It was very depressing. It's scary to think that some people end up like that. Then I looked around me at all the employees, including my mom, that love these people, take care of them, and give them their best. Thank God for these angels among us.
After my time at the "home" I went to Woodcrest Elementary to help my friend Mel in her first grade class. I didn't count but I believe she has around 30 first graders and of those 30 I believe she said 20 need a little extra help. Wow. Talk about overwhelming. I don't know how she does it! I sat there for a while in her class and had the thought again- these teachers are angels among us. She takes 30 squirrelly kids from a variety of different ethnicities, languages, and temperments and has to teach them all how to count, their ABC's, and all the basics. She has to figure out how to keep the "top" kids interested and the "bottom" kids caught up. What an amazing job she is doing! Go Mel!
