Beautiful Days

I've really been enjoying my ministry work with the sisters in the infirmary. I had the greatest afternoon yesterday.

One of our elder, more senile and more eccentric sisters injured her foot the other day, and my big task was to get her to sit still for as long as possible. Trust me, this is no small task when this particular sister can be found walking the halls, swinging her rosary, singing "oh what a beautiful morning" at almost any time of the day. She's a fixture of the corridors, to say the least.

The real challenge was to get her to not only sit but to let us put her foot up so we could ice it. Well, 50% isn't too shabby considering how much of a busybody she really is. I was able to sit with her for about an hour and a half. I was on top of the world considering that I figured I'd be lucky to get 10 minutes out of her before I was chasing her down the hall.

My trick? Puzzles.Lots of them. We did 3 puzzles while we were sitting there together, and she chatted away happily. She wasn't as fidgety as I was expecting, and she only got up twice to try to get some water and I was able to get her to sit right back down and get it for her. Success at its finest.

After awhile she did want to go for a walk, it was so sunny and nice out I knew she'd be out there eventually. But she's always more than happy to take me along, and I even got her to sit on some of the benches along the path, for quite awhile each time. I was on a roll!

After getting her back upstairs to rest for a bit I took another sister out to enjoy some sun and fresh air. This sister is in a wheelchair and can't get around too easily. I was more than happy to push her around outside and we sat in the memory garden for awhile talking. She was so happy I thought she was going to burst, she was so delighted to see the flowers and the trees and all the little chipmunks running around. She kept saying "thank Jesus for this beautiful day, and thank you dear for bringing me out here to enjoy it."

I take it for granted, being outside in the nice weather all the time, going out whenever I want to walk and enjoy the grounds. I can't imagine being stuck inside and only making it out if someone manages to come up with the time to take you for a walk. I was so happy to be able to do that for her, something that seemed so simple to me meant the world to her.

I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon.