In the last couple of years, Maria and my habit of going to the Mansion on essential holidays and visiting with the residents who have no families or whose families can’t come to see them or bring them to their homes for holiday gatherings and dinners.

That can be a lonely time for them, this is what they miss the most, and it cheers them up visibly when someone shows up to be with them. Zinnia is a miracle worker, she puts a smile onto the saddest faces.

Holidays are a difficult time at the Mansion; people miss the rituals that are familiar and essential to them – families, cooking, shopping, visiting with friends, their own dogs, and cats, watching their grandchildren and children.

Those are always things that are missed in assisted care, but never more so than on holidays.  On those days, most residents leave to be with their families. Some families are gone or too far away or just too busy.

We brought flowers, Easter gift baskets, and bunny hates for the aides.

In keeping with our new Mansion Flower Project, we brought 12 bouquets in small glass jars for the nine Mansion dining room tables and Memory Care (photo above).

When these dry out, we’ll get more.

Tania Woodward passed them out to every dining table in the Mansion and memory care unit.

Then we stopped in to visit with a Bingo Game in progress in the Activity Room.

This is where the residents were who could not be with their families but wanted some company were; Maria and I said hello, stayed briefly, and Zinnia brought smiles to every person in the room.

We didn’t want to break up the bingo game, so we didn’t stay long. Zinnia and I met and spent some time with a new Memory Care resident, Sylvie is an avid dog lover.

We are both deeply touched by how happy the residents are to see us; it means a lot to them that we show up. And it means a lot to us to be there.

It’s the warmest feeling in the world. And to me, it is what holidays like Easter are really about. There is nowhere I’d rather be.

Sylvie was lovely and said she would love me taking a photo of her (her family has also granted permission as I always do,  even though she joked it might break the camera.

She loved the portrait when she saw it; I will print one up for her.

I’ve learned photos can be critical to the Mansion residents, especially those in memory care. The aides say they love to hang pictures of themselves on the walls; it helps them with their memory and identity.

We were not at the Mansion long, but we were grateful to have gone. I suspect this will be a part of every holiday for the foreseeable future. It lifts us and gives our lives richness and meaning.

Happy Easter, good friends.