Thankful Thursday: Comfortable and Blessed

Linking up with sweet, lovely, and inspiring Rebecca Jo for Thankful Thursday. Visit her blog here.

This week I am thankful...

** to finally be finding my way and feeling comfortable in the rest of the nursing home outside of the dementia unit...and to be feeling like I'm contributing something.  

Ex. There is a man in the hallway that I'm usually assigned to whose wife is in another hall. He doesn't have dementia, but his thinking isn't as clear as it once was. Physically, he's pretty strong yet. He doesn't walk well, but he zooms all over the place in his wheelchair. The nurses and aides where at their wits' end yesterday and getting kind of grumpy with him. 

I was down another hall for something and found him over there again and got talking to him and got him to accompany me back to where he should be. I discovered he had gone to school for music and that he had worked for the railroad for 45 years. He enjoyed talking about both. I listened for a while and then introduced him to a young girl I work with who has a degree in music, is the music minister at a church, and was offered a spot with Pittsburgh's opera company. He loved talking to her and did so while she did other things for over half an hour. Next time I plan to introduce him to a fellow resident that loves trains and would enjoy his stories.

It felt really good to have found a way to connect and do what the nursing staff hadn't been able to do...keep him from wandering.

** Tim is feeling better. Monday and Tuesday we thought he was getting another kidney stone.

** the severe storms that passed through the area Tuesday afternoon and evening didn't cause us any problems.

** for all of my sweet grandchildren. The oldest is thriving and becoming a social butterfly since leaving home schooling behind and entering a charter school last year; the middle one is such a sensitive soul and the sweetest thing...they took him last night to look at bulldog puppies as his therapist feels a pup might help his anxiety issues; and for the littlest guy and his emerging personality...it appears he is going to be a bit of an ornery jokester.

** for the ordinary life I've been given when I hear about all the drama friends are experiencing...nasty divorces, rebellious children, legal issues, struggles with how a parent's abuse is still causing repercussions, health problems, etc.

** for the fall and Christmas toppers my daughter got me for the Scentsy scented wax warmer I bought through her.

** for my new cell phone whose battery life seems endless compared to my old phone that needed charged every few hours.

** that the laptop is hanging in there for now.

** for each one of you!