Our Lady-Links enjoy sharing memories with our dear friends, those ladies in our retirement community with various types of cognitive decline.  When we bring an item for our Show and Tell visits, there’s a wide variety of things to see and interesting stories to be shared.  As this Lady-Link sat at her breakfast table with a view of her backyard before moving to our retirement community, she took notice of a pair of cardinals that returned every year to build a nest and raise their little ones.  We enjoyed looking at the plate she purchased to remind her of the cardinal sightings, and that prompted each of us (including our dear friend) to share related stories of our own.

Some of our Show and Tell items span decades in our lives….this “Outstanding Homemaking Student of the Year” trophy dating back to high school years brought lots of laughter as we remembered some of our first experiences with baking.  Crisco remains the favorite shortening ingredient for making flaky pie crusts back then and now!

The Lunar New Year was a special topic to remind us of the way other cultures celebrate the calendar year.

Holiday decorations are fun items to share and discuss.  With Valentine’s Day approaching, there’s lots of items that will spur memories and inspire conversation. Collections that our Lady-Links have are exciting to see.  This Snoopy collection was a big hit at one of our visits.

One of our most interesting Show and Tell visits was when our dear friend said she had something to show us.  It was her nurses uniform from when she was a student nurse in Kansas City from 1948-1951.  What a joy that was to hear her share stories from her early days as a nurse, and to know that we gave her an opportunity to discuss something that was meaningful in her life.  Show and Tell visits are truly a win-win situation.

There’s always something interesting when we have a Show and Tell visit.  Our dear friends love it and so do we!

 

 

It’s a new year and that brings an opportunity for new ideas to incorporate into our Lady-Links program.  We’re not changing our mission…to engage our dear friends in activities they can enjoy…but we are looking for ways to increase our connection with those ladies in our community who are experiencing various types of memory loss or cognitive decline.  To do that requires thought, planning, and coordination with other groups who have the same compassionate outreach for providing socialization for those with various types of cognitive concerns.

We want to reach as many dear friends as possible and that includes volunteering at events designed for those with cognitive issues.

We’ve also learned that a card connection with our dear friends is a great way to bring joy into their lives when a personal visit isn’t possible.  COVID taught us that.

The Lady-Links organized in 2013, visiting dear friends in their homes engaging them in various activities such as crafts, games, music, or with Show and Tell items.  We want to expand that vision to include volunteering at events, setting up a Card Connection with pen pals, and engaging in group craft activities creating projects that we send to our dear friends..  We’ve done some of that in the past, but we want to do more.  Our focus has been primarily on home visits but now as our community grows, we want to broaden our vision for how to reach ladies with cognitive issues in additional ways.  This will be an exciting year for Lady-Links!

Happy New Year from the Lady-Links!

Each year since the Lady-Links were organized in 2013, we have met at Christmas time to make ornaments to give to residents in our continuing care community.  It’s a wonderful time of giving in the spirit of Christmas.  Throughout the year, we visit the ladies in our community who have some type of cognitive decline engaging them in activities they enjoy.  For our December activity, in addition to our visits, we meet as a group to make over 100 ornaments to share with everyone in our assisted living, post-acute care and memory care community.

Everyone enjoyed making the ornaments, but the real joy came in knowing that the residents who receive them would experience joy as well.

Even the husbands and guests got into the ornament-making mode!

Delicious refreshments, wonderful fellowship, and decorations added to the joy of the event.

The finished ornaments filled an entire table.

The Lady-Links agree that giving is the best part of what we do.

Creating something gives us a sense of accomplishment plus it’s a great way to engage in an enjoyable activity with friends.

When the Lady-Links visit their dear friends, those ladies in our retirement community in various stages of cognitive decline, making crafts is a favorite activity.  Not only does the visit produce a finished product, but just working together gives a spirit of camaraderie, team work, and togetherness. In a social setting while working on crafts, the Lady-Links engage their dear friends in conversation related to the crafts.  Favorite memories are shared, usually with much laughter and love.

Socialization is so important for those with cognitive issues because it has been found to support brain health. Our crafts involve thinking creatively, making connections, and completing a task that contributes to the whole project.

Working on crafts brings stress relief.  How can we focus on what’s worrying us when we’re making such colorful, cheerful crafts?  We find that these craft visits put us all in a happy mood!  The crafts with a Fall and Thanksgiving theme are some of our favorites, reminding us to be thankful for what we have.  As Lady-Links, we are thankful for many things, but especially for our dear friends and their families who welcome us into their homes for our visits.

The Lady-Links wish our dear friends, their families, and you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn arrived and with it came lovely crafts that the Lady-Links enjoy making with their dear friends, those ladies in our community with various types of cognitive decline.  We choose our crafts to be colorful and cheerful and ones that can promote conversation about things we all enjoy.

We engage our dear friends at our weekly visits in activities that will help them recall pleasant memories.  Autumn activities inspire memories about decorating pumpkins, running through piles of leaves, making pies, getting out sweaters and jackets for the colder weather, and going on hay rides.  Since we are of the same generation as our dear friends, many of our childhood memories are the same.

We share stories of seeing the leaves change from shades of green to brilliant colors of gold, orange and red.  We remember scarecrows from gardens, gathering pecans for pecan pies, selecting apples for apple pies and homemade cider, and going to fall festivals at our schools or churches.

Autumn is a beautiful season of the year that adds plenty of reasons to share love, laughter and blessings at each Lady-Links visit.

 

The Lady-Links participate in our community’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s every year because we believe that the funds collected for research will lead to a cure in the near future.  Our dear friends, those sweet ladies in various stages of cognitive decline that we visit weekly, deserve to have answers to their questions about Alzheimer’s and other related dementias.  Funding for research is essential in providing those answers and finding a cure.

The ceremony began with the presentation of a check from our community to the Alzheimer’s Association.  The total today is $91,000.  That is an amazing amount collected and we’re not through yet!  Even more money was added today and will continue to be added in the next few months.

Today, the Ring of Champions Plaza was unveiled, recognizing those benefactors who gave generously toward the goal of finding a cure and allowing them to have a brick engraved with wording of their choice.

It was a surprise and an honor to see a brick dedicated to the Lady-Links by one of the major benefactors, the husband of our very first dear friend.

The Walk was well attended and raised awareness of the need for funding to find a cure.

There were many reasons to celebrate!

It’s an honor to be a part of a group effort to bring peace and love while getting close to finding a cure.

We were so pleased when one of the husbands of our dear friends gave us their wedding album and asked us to look through it with his wife.

Looking through scrapbooks and family albums that our dear friends have is always a special time for us.  The ladies we visit in our retirement community who have some type of cognitive decline are usually able to recall the events that occurred years ago when prompted by a picture or other memorabilia.  Recently we enjoyed talking about the wedding of one of our dear friends who has been married for more than sixty years.

She could describe the wedding and reception in detail,  and we loved hearing her recollections.   It was a very effective way to engage our dear friend in topics that held such wonderful memories for her.  Conversation led to comparisons of weddings “then” and “now.”

One of the Lady-Links brought an example of something from a wedding that fell in the “now” category.  It was a table runner from the rehearsal dinner of one of her relatives and featured pictures of both the bride and groom from childhood to adulthood.

We loved comparing the fashions and traditions from this recent wedding to those from our dear friend’s album.  Weddings hold special memories and can provide a time of delightful conversation and interaction with our dear friends.

Another of our Lady-Links shared a “cut-out” of  a picture from her wedding.  Each Lady-Link had a special memory to share from either her wedding or from a wedding of a friend or relative.  Such happy memories brought on lots of happy talk!  It was a very uplifting time with plenty of love and laughter shared throughout the visit.

 

Most of our time as Lady-Links is spent visiting our dear friends, those ladies in our community who have some type of cognitive decline.  We engage them in activities they can enjoy such as making crafts.  Occasionally there are craft packets that are left over and we throw those into our “odds and ends” pile.  When we get several of these random assortments, we know what to do…we have a craft party and invite our Lady-Links to work together to finish the projects.

It’s fun to get together for any occasion, but making crafts brings out the creative side of us which adds to the fun!  This event spanned all seasons…from 4th of July to Christmas and everything in between!  It was a great way to spend a morning.

Not only did we have a wonderful time together, but we managed to make some cute crafts that will be given to our dear friends at the appropriate time of the year!

The Lady-Links care for one another and for our dear friends.  Putting “odds and ends” together was a perfect way to show that we care while having fun at the same time.

 

Separately these “odds and ends” didn’t have much value.  But together, they made a delightful assortment that will be a joy to give to our dear friends.  Don’t discount the little odd things that come into your life. Those can become a source of joy if you willing to put some time and effort into incorporating them in a creative way into your life’s journey.

What do you have in your home that helps tell your story?  Is it a Lone Ranger toy that reminds you of the Saturday movie matinees you saw with your friends when you were a child?  Is it a pocket watch that you remember your father using to help you learn to tell time?  Perhaps it is jewelry that came from a favorite family member or pictures that were part of your childhood home?  What memories do you have that are sparked by those objects, and how did they become important enough in your life that you saved them?  The answer to those questions is the basis for the Show and Tell visits to our dear friends, those ladies in our retirement community who are in various stages of cognitive decline.

As we tell the story behind what we bring, we engage our dear friends in conversation about their memories that are triggered by our show and tell items.  They can relate with stories of their own about what movies they remember seeing as children or how they learned to write and tell time.  About what jewelry they wore or what they remember their mothers or grandmothers wearing.  About famous artwork they saw or what they had displayed in their homes.  The objects serve a purpose…to see something and to hold it brings back memories much more than just talking about it.  Plus it gives us connections as we recall similar memories and experiences.

Sharing something meaningful from our past helps us tell our stories in ways that bring joy and connections to those who listen.  What hidden treasures do you have in your closet that you might share with a friend or loved one in cognitive decline?  Perhaps you’ll find that your story is just what someone else needed to hear.  At our Lady-Links visits, the treasure is not in the monetary value of the object but in the positive emotional connections that the object brings to all of us who are there.  We share because we care.

The Lady-Links are committed to keeping connected with their dear friends, those ladies in our community in various stages of cognitive decline.  We don’t let something like record-breaking triple digits nor record-breaking ice storms prevent us from doing what we do best….sharing love and laughter with these precious ladies.  We just find ways to celebrate each season and make the best of the weather, regardless of extremes!

Lately, we’ve added coloring activities to our visits.  We’ve had fun with summer-themed pictures.

As we color, the conversation is filled with memories of childhood summer activities: eating watermelon and other in-season fruits, having picnics, playing outdoors, and swimming.  We also love to talk about summer fashions: pedal pushers, sleeveless cotton tops and sandals.  Summer is always a time for vacations and trips, and we had plenty to share about favorite locations.

Remember the nursery rhyme that goes something like this:

“Whether the weather is hot.  Whether the weather is cold.

We’ll weather the weather. Whatever the weather, whether we like it or not!”

 

Whatever the weather….the Lady-Links will be there.  And we’ll always have plenty to talk and laugh about!