by Kay Heitsch
"How would you ladies like to come over to my house and make some cookies?" I asked three of my favorite nursing home ladies. I talked to the staff and made arrangements for our big outing. I think I was as excited as these ladies were to have them over to our home. I felt incredibly close to each one. I told my husband, Bill, about the fun day I was planning on having with my company. I expressed to Bill that I had a "real connection" with these three gals, and in my opinion, they were really "with it." Because of a bad experience in my childhood, I had an unnatural fear of anyone I felt might not be "with it."
We all piled into the van and headed over to our home. Everyone was excited, especially me, to have these ladies over for a visit. After a quick tour of the house, the ladies had a seat at the kitchen table. We were all enjoying this cookie-making day. The ladies were all talking. I was listening to their conversation as I put the cookies in and out of the oven. The conversation turned to where they had spent most of their lives. I was expecting to hear Ohio, Michigan, or some other state, but two out of the three said that they had spent most of their lives in mental institutions, to my shock. When I heard the words "mental institution," I felt the old fear come over me! What had I gotten myself into? "How on earth did I feel a "real connection" to them?" I asked myself, feeling my heart begin to race.
After a couple of minutes, I calmed myself down. Through this experience, I could see the Lord taught me I had a "real connection," and I was to show love to everyone. I didn't think I would feel comfortable, let alone connected, around anyone who wasn't "with it" in my book, but the Lord showed me that He had connected me to them.
Interestingly, a few years later, I worked for six years in a "Memory Care" facility. Had I not had this experience 15 years before, I doubt very much that I would have been able to work there.
