AMBROSIA SALAD

Not long ago, I had lunch with a former Executive Director who now owns her own senior referral agency. During the course of our conversation, I asked her if she ever missed that role which she held so many years ago. Her response was one of the best assessments of the job I’ve ever heard, “When it was good, there was nothing better.” 

The Gift of Today

Today wash one of those days for me. After two weeks of holidays, family, sickness and a December full of events and activities galore, I've found it difficult to follow my usual routine, both personally and professionally. Finally this week, things have returned back to normal. One of those routines that I enjoy most is walking through the dining rooms and visiting our memory care neighborhood. This afternoon, I got to spend some time in that special neighborhood, and it was nothing short of magical.

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Our activity person was in the kitchen with a couple of memory care residents making Ambrosia salad. A mixture of fruit, mini marshmallows, shredded coconut and cool whip that instantly transports you back to summertime family gatherings and happy memories. As we continued working in the kitchen, more residents came in to see what was happening. One was helping at the sink, washing dishes, another comes in to eat some grapes, and a few more came in just to see what was going on. I grabbed a bag of mini-marshmallows, adding them and a few other ingredients to the mixture. Once everything was mixed together, we all tried a spoonful, uttering praises about the yummy creation before turning the conversation to shoes, babies and other topics.

After leaving the kitchen, I walked across that hall to the activity room, and spoke with a resident that I hadn’t seen in a while. Usually quiet and sometimes even withdrawn, she has recently become animated, talkative, and more engaged than she has ever been before. When I sat next to her she leaned toward me saying, “I haven’t seen you in a while” which warmed my heart in a way that is difficult to describe. While there I met one of our newest residents, greeted three other ladies and watched as our newly acquired community pet walked around and gently interacted with the residents.

What’s So Special?

I know that you are probably thinking, what is so magical about salad making and a dog roaming around a memory care neighborhood? Here’s what’s so special. All of those ladies, plagued with dementia had temporary slipped their bounds and were once again engaged, vibrant women. There weren't wracked with anxiety, worried about what they cannot remember, and weren't experiencing sun-downing behaviors. For this brief window of time, they were simply women enjoying themselves, engaged in the simple practices of everyday life that we often take for granted. They were ALIVE.

As I walked back to the main building, I felt as though I had been given a very valuable gift. I had been able to not only witness, but be part of a small time period in which these ladies were once again like their former selves. We laughed and talked, and I was able to envision what it must have been like before they were stricken with this terrible disease. I felt blessed to have to have been a party to something that was so special and beautiful. And then, I thought about my new friend, the former Executive Director, and how her words couldn’t ring truer for me than today: “When its good, there is nothing better.”

Leslie Quintanar — Executive Director of The Meridian at Lake San Marcos