The Lady-Links are grateful that COVID can’t stop them from expressing how much they treasure their relationships with their dear friends, those ladies in our community who are in various stages of cognitive decline.  Although we are prevented from making in-person visits to our dear friends because of restrictions brought on by COVID, we have found multiple ways to stay connected.  Recognizing how blessed we are to have spent time before COVID with these ladies, we decided to celebrate World Gratitude Day by making cards that express our gratefulness for their friendship even though we have to remain apart.

The cards were designed specifically for World Gratitude Day and recognized our community’s goal of sharing messages of kindness and gratefulness during this month.

Some of the Lady-Links met to make these cards, following the social distancing guidelines, wearing masks, and limiting our number of participants to less than ten at any one time.

We began by selecting the messages used for the inside of the card or as additions to the card.

Once we made our selections, the creativity began.  Multiple messages of love, hope, kindness and gratefulness were assembled.

Not only will these messages of gratitude inspire and encourage our dear friends, but they will strengthen our relationship with them as well.  In addition, we Lady-Links felt a special time of bonding with one another as we made the cards and shared from our own experiences how we’ve found things for which we’re grateful even during this time of COVID.  It’s amazing how an attitude of gratitude can spread collectively throughout a group to increase feelings of joy, peace and hope within each individual.

Before we left the room to deliver our cards to our dear friends, we made sure we sanitized the room so others could have a safe and healthy environment.  This simple act of thoughtfulness and concern for others is a way of expressing gratitude for living in a community where we all care about each other.

Gratitude…there are many ways to express it and many ways that it benefits both the giver and the receiver.  The Lady-Links know this from experience and are grateful to continue to celebrate even if it is COVID style.

We prepared for a Labor Day Celebration with our dear friends in mind, those ladies in our retirement community with various types of cognitive decline, by making patriotic crafts to send to them.  COVID restrictions are such that we can’t make in-person visits, but we certainly know how to keep connected through crafts, cards, notes, phone calls and sending other special items of interest that we know they will enjoy!

“COVID style” means that a small group of Lady-Links get together, wearing masks and social distancing, to share love and laughter while we work on a project that will let our dear friends know we continue to value their friendship and that we’re still in this together!  For Labor Day, we made a God Bless America craft and then packaged a smiley face craft we previously made prior to COVID to send to our dear friends.

Our craft manager had everything organized and ready to assemble.

The finished product is a door hanger that will help our dear friends celebrate this patriotic holiday!

Prior to COVID, when we were making in-person visits, we put together an assortment of patriotic smiley faces.  We included those along with our God Bless America craft to make for several days of celebration.

Happy Labor Day from the Lady-Links to you!

The Lady-Links aren’t going to let a little thing like the hottest day of the year stop them from making crafts for their dear friends.  Although some like it hot, we decided that to avoid a heat stroke,  this would be one of those days that our group of eight needed to move inside, COVID style.

Social distancing, wearing masks, and limiting our time to 30 minutes were still the guidelines for our health and safety.  It didn’t escape our notice that our craft reflected what was happening outside…a blazing sun. Only this sun had sunglasses!  Appropriate for 104 degrees in the shade! Each Lady-Link had her own craft items, organized for us by our craft manager.  We don’t share any supplies which is in line with our COVID restrictions.

The sun magnets will be a great reminder of how we kept our cool during the hottest day of the year!

The Lady-Links are dedicated to the friendship connections among each other and with their dear friends.  We’ll do what it takes to keep those connections “hot” meaning energized and enthusiastic.  With that friendship description in mind, the Lady-Links would agree…”We all like it hot!”

Everyone can use some laughter in their lives, right?  Especially now…when we’re dealing with the Coronavirus and all the concerns associated with it. Finding something to laugh about is important to help us during these difficult times.  So how do we do that?  Leave it to the Lady-Links to come up with the answer!  We celebrated National “Tell A Joke” Day with each other and with our dear friends, COVID style!

The first step was to collect jokes from the Lady-Links and compile them into a Joke Book that we could share.

The second thing was to get together as Lady-Links to read and share these jokes. Of course, this was done COVID style using masks, social distancing, and limiting our number of participants to 10 or less.

Our “audience” laughed and applauded our efforts so we knew we were on the right track.

Even the Bible says “A cheerful heart is good medicine…”(Proverbs 17:22) so between the audience and the Bible, we were all set.  By the way, speaking of medicine …

What’s the difference between a hill and a pill?  A hill is hard to get up and a pill is hard to get down.

Sorry…I couldn’t resist that….yes, the hill/pill riddle is part of our Joke Book!

The next step was to package the Joke Books and deliver to our dear friends.

Ready for delivery!

More samples….

Why is Cinderella bad at soccer?   Because she runs away from the ball.

How do you know hot is faster than cold?   Because you can catch a cold.

We even included some Words of Wisdom to laugh about…

If it were easy to raise kids, it never would have started with something called labor.

Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back in.

Does running late count as exercise?

Okay, hope you’re laughing (or maybe giving a good natured groan) by now.  But if not, here’s the dedication from our Joke Book which will surely make you smile:

“We hope you have enjoyed this first-ever Lady-Links Joke Book.  We think that laughter helps make each day better and that our lives are enriched when we sprinkle that laughter with love.  These jokes are some of our favorites, and the Lady-Links want to share them with you, our good friends, because….

Good friends are like the perfect bra.  Supportive.  Uncomplicated.  And able to give you a little boost when you need it.”

We hope this added a little “boost” to your day!

What a fun event to celebrate. . . National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day…I don’t think it can get any better than this!  The Lady-Links decided to send chocolate chip cookies to our dear friends, those ladies with memory loss or other types of cognitive decline who live in our retirement community.  The cookies were baked fresh that morning by the dining services staff, ready for us to deliver.  We just had to figure out how to do that COVID style!

 

Step 1 – We decided to decorate sacks with “baking-themed stickers” we made so that we could easily transport the cookies.

Step 2 – We requested that the dining services team package the cookies for us so we wouldn’t touch the actual cookie itself.

Step 3 – Eight of us met outside (a requirement for group meetings) in an area that we sanitized, wearing masks and using social distancing.

Step 4 – The fun began as the Lady-Links decorated the sacks with the stickers and enjoyed a social time together in the 30-minutes we are allowed for group events.

Step 5 – Disinfecting the area we used.

Step 6 – Changing locations to the home of one of the Lady-Links to repeat the process of decorating the sacks, but this time with a new group of recipients in mind….the husbands of our dear friends.  We didn’t want to leave them out!  To arrange for an indoor event, we continued to follow COVID restrictions set by our retirement community by limiting our number to four people, wearing masks, using social distancing and keeping within a 30 minute time line.

Although there were many steps in this COVID-regulated process, we didn’t mind.  The benefits far outweighed any inconveniences. We enjoyed getting together to do something for our dear friends (and to the husbands), knowing that it would help them feel connected to us in this time when social isolation can have serious consequences.  But it also brought us out of our social isolation too.  Friendships matter, and we are thankful to be a part of extending love and laughter,  COVID style!

Just look at the smile on the face of one of our dear friends holding her sack of chocolate chip cookies.  This picture was taken by one of her health care workers and sent to us since COVID regulations prevent us from doing an in-person visit.  Connecting with chocolate chip cookies.  Can’t think of anything better!

The Lady-Links made beautiful bouquets of flowers for their dear friends.  The idea originated from one of the Lady-Links who has a garden spot assigned to her at our retirement community.  She generously offered her zinnias to us and even organized the event according to the COVID restrictions for health and safety, including wearing masks and social distancing.

She demonstrated where to cut the flowers and how to group them according to the size of vases we selected.

Everyone had a great time selecting and arranging their flowers.

The Lady-Links had fun together while making beautiful bouquets, giving us an opportunity to socialize.

Each dear friend was delighted to receive her special bouquet, helping to ease the feeling of social isolation that is a part of this COVID timeline.

Lady-Links care and are making every effort to help their dear friends feel linked to love.

Overcoming COVID restrictions, eight of the Lady-Links used social distancing and masks while meeting outside to make crafts to send to our dear friends, those ladies in our community in various stages of cognitive decline.  Whew!  That was a lot of regulations, but we created a safe and healthy environment where we had FUN!  Our best “friend” was our tape measure!

Six feet or more was the standard we used in setting up our tables and chairs and, of course, sanitizing them with help from one of our husbands!

Everyone had their own work space on a covered porch.  The temperature was 97 degrees, but  thankfully the shade plus the ceiling fans made it feel like it was only 96 degrees! Ha!

Our craft manager had everything ready for us and demonstrated what we were to do in the 30 minutes we were allotted to meet as a group, according to restrictions set by our community.  Each Lady-Link was given a package of craft pieces that, when assembled, would make a cheerful door hanger.

We had a delightful time knowing that this socialization was good for us as Lady-Links and that the craft we were making would bring joy to each of our dear friends.

Before long, we each finished our craft.

With a few minutes to spare, each of us shared what we were doing during this time of restricted activity.  It was a blessing to hear the Lady-Links describe some of the positives in their lives in spite of the difficult circumstances currently surrounding our community, state, nation and world.  But that didn’t surprise any of us….the Lady-Links always know how to bring love and laughter wherever they are.

The Lady-Links will continue to work within the COVID restrictions to find ways to encourage and uplift our dear friends until we can safely resume our in-person visits.

Celebrations are different this year.  But that doesn’t mean that the Lady-Links can’t celebrate at all….we just have to find a way to be creative while conforming to the COVID restrictions in place in our retirement community, local community and state.  In the past, we have recognized the birth of our great nation by making patriotic crafts with our dear friends during our visits.  However, since March, our in-person visits have been on hold but we’ve continued to stay connected through cards and phone calls.  This  year for July 4th,  we sent  cards  with  a patriotic  theme  to  our  dear  friends. 

We’ve found that our dear friends enjoy our cards and notes, saving them and enjoying them for weeks.  It’s a great way to stay in touch until restrictions are lifted.

We want to wish you a Happy 4th of July and thought you might enjoy looking at few of our previous years’ pictures of patriotic crafts.  Just scroll below to see the variety of crafts we’ve made for this holiday.

Happy Birthday America.  From the Lady-Links.

 

 

As Lady-Links, we make an effort to look for ways to change for the better.  One of the sayings we find inspirational is

“If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.”

Have you ever seen a caterpillar? Not nearly as beautiful as a butterfly.  But change transforms something rather ordinary into something extraordinary in the case of a caterpillar emerging as a butterfly through the process of metamorphosis. Right now, due to the Coronavirus, Lady-Links in-person visits to our dear friends are on hold waiting for a time when we can safely enjoy activities together.  We’re kind of in that chrysalis stage…where the transformation takes place.  Things don’t appear to be happening, but we know they are, and we are looking to emerge from these COVID-19 restrictions even better than before.

We’re working on more ways to engage our dear friends with expanded, meaningful activities.  We’re working on combining our connections through writing cards and notes with future in-person visits…not just one or the other.  We’re working on developing arts and crafts that will be appropriate for Lady-Links to use with dear friends or with each other as gifts to our dear friends.  In other words, we are looking for ways this change will bring something better.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if something good can come out of this pause in our Lady-Links visits?  We believe it can. We’ll emerge better than ever!  Just look at a butterfly and you’ll see what we mean.

 

The Alzheimer’s Association recently organized a car parade for our retirement community.  With masks on and using social distancing, the Lady-Links and other residents cheered and clapped for the vehicles bringing awareness to the need for a cure for Alzheimer’s and other related types of dementia.  The “Honk 4 Hope” theme is a positive message that we all support. We know that a cure will be found!

Part of the process of becoming a Lady-Link is to go through a number of training sessions, several of which focus on education about Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia.  The Alzheimer’s Association is an excellent source for information we use in those sessions.  In addition, the seminars they bring to our campus provide valuable insights regarding communication and activities with our dear friends.

Our community has a great relationship with our local Alzheimer’s Association, and we host a walk on our campus each fall to raise awareness and funds for this group.  As Lady-Links, we have been active in the walks in the past.

The Lady-Links know that there is Hope…Hope for a better tomorrow, Hope for effective treatments, and Hope  for a cure!  In the meantime, we will look for opportunities to spread hope with plenty of love and laughter to our dear friends whenever and however we can.