(The Mansion has just posted a new and very short Amazon Mansion Wish List, seeking three things, three DVD’s each offering a part of the Shirley Temple Collection. The three volumes range in price from $16 to $18 each. These will be especially helpful as the frazzled residents return tomorrow.)

The long and difficult ordeal for the Mansion and its residents is nearly over. The state regulators have thoroughly inspected the buildings and given permission for all of the residents to return, those staying at the Danforth Adult Care Center and those staying with their families.

It was a time of tension and exhaustion for almost everyone involved. Alice (above) is very happy to hear the news. “We’re bringing them home tomorrow morning,” one of the aides shouted to me as I stopped to check on things Wednesday afternoon.

The residents at the Danforth will be picked up at 10 a.m. Thursday after breakfast and brought back to the Mansion, where almost all of the staff will be gathered to help them get back into their rooms, and back into their lives.

What a great relief, that this ordeal is coming to an end.

The Army Of Good is sponsoring a Homecoming Celebration, complete with Chinese food (their request) and music, that will be around lunch time Friday.

There was talking of bringing the residents home tonight (Wednesday), but it started to snow and sleet and it was decided not to try to bring them all back in the dark.

I believe the residents will be pleasantly surprised by the Mansion facelift, good things come out of almost anything, and the Mansion is looking pretty special.

This month turned out to be a roller coaster for the residents, and I suppose, for me, also, and for Maria. It was hard to see the staff and the residents so unhappy and disoriented. But they got a lot of support from the aides and from you (thank you) and Red wore himself to the bone comforting everybody in sight. He is an amazing animal.

I learned a great deal this month.

About the value of showing up. About what helps and what doesn’t. About the power of stories, and movies, and the fun of  holding parties.  About how to talk to the elderly and how to listen. I also saw the Mansion in a different way.

The building clearly had some difficulties that needed to be addressed, and the state wasn’t playing any games about it. The Mansion will be better for that.

But mostly and apart from building issues, I saw clearly what I had already sensed – the Mansion is a very special place, unlike any of the more than 20 assisted care facilities Red and I have visited over the past few years.  It is unlike any other Medicaid facility for the elderly that I have seen.

The staff is very different from the staffs we often see. They are especially caring and attentive. I’m not suggesting other workers in other places are not caring or competent, just that the Mansion staff seems unique to me.

They really care, it is not just a job for them – the pain in their faces this past month was wrenching. George, the owner of the Mansion encourages this kind of support and attention, he welcomes me and other people to come in and help, he doesn’t hide behind Hippa regulations to isolate the residents or keep them from speaking to the outside world.

I am grateful for his encouragement and support for my work there. He didn’t need to keep me posted on things this week, he was nearly overwhelmed, but he did.

I credit the staff, mostly, for the feel of the Mansion, but also the building for part of this feeling.

It is very much a home, it feels like a home and looks like a home, not an institution with bare wells, fluorescent lighting and no carpets. The residents have their own individual spaces, and sofas and stuffed chairs all around.

The Mansion has a full-time activity director, Julie Harlin, who schedules talks, readings, workshops and movies for the residents every day. The meals are served in a real dining room, the residents can sit and read together in a real living room with windows to the outside world in front of a fireplace with a beautiful insert (fake fire).

There are living things in the Mansion: summer the cat, who you made possible, two parakeets (once of which we bought) and all kinds of plants and greenery.

The Army Of Good has provided enormous support for these artistic and creative activities, we (you) have dramatically altered the quality of life in the Mansion, and set a higher bar for assisted care. You have also helped the residents find their voices through their letters and videos and photos.

From the first day, the Mansion has welcomed me and supported my efforts to give voice to the elderly and chronicle the nature of their lives inside of the institutions where they are increasingly housed. We have done a lot of good.

I don’t mean to be critical of the Danforth or any other place, but the difference between these other institutions and the Mansion is very real, and  evident, to me, to the residents, to the staff.

So I come out of this having learned much about how to communicate with the advanced elderly, and what it is they need and most care about. My connection to the Mansion has only deepened. Lots of people and places in my life have been uncomfortable with me, but I have never felt uncomfortable at the Mansion, not for a minute.

Maria and I both felt were were trusted and connected in a new and different way. I think we mattered, and you made that possible. Thank you once again, you have never failed in this work.

We brought cakes and cookies, puzzles and movies, hats and books, stamps and envelopes, socks and sweaters  DVD’s and stuffed animals, flowers and paper crafts, sketchpads and colored pencils, photo books and magazines.

I was nothing but happy to try to lend a hand this month. We were never needed more. And the work is not over, really. The residents will need to support and attention as they transition back into their disrupted and confused lives.  Some of them are pretty rattled.

That work starts tomorrow.

(Julie is thrilled with the “Your Town” short (three to four paragraph) messages and images you are sending about the towns you live in.  She got six today. The residents love seeing these messages, they are all going up on one or more bulletin boards (photos to come). You can e-mail them to her: [email protected] or mail your photos and hometown descriptions to The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Thanks.)