As you know, it’s about nine months since we’ve moved into our new “old” house.  I’ve since retired from my strenuous yet gratifying work schedule.  We still aren’t completely unpacked, but we’re getting there.  However, in all the changes occurring over the past year, I’ve found the need to get back into the work force.  Since there is no real financial benefit to writing, unless your name is Hemmingway, I’ve been looking at different ways to use my talents on a smaller scale.

Next week I will begin a stint at a memory care facility.  My own memory has been  causing some concern lately, but I think it might be because I haven’t been using my brain as much as I used to.  As we age, we don’t have the structure of a job – a specific schedule to follow – a lack of outside communication.  Since I had non-stop structure, scheduling and working with children, I went from one extreme to another in a very short time.

Did I mention, I’ll be working with memory care patients?  Oh, yes, I forgot!  This should be a challenge, but a very exciting one.  The time I spend with these lovely people will allow me to sharpen their memories using some of my drama background. We’ll also stir their imaginations by doing some poetry and memoir writing.  I hope that this will allow them to express themselves again and sharpen their recollections.  At the same time, I’m giving myself a second chance to wake up some of my own memories.

I have a few concerns, because in a sense it will be like the blind leading the blind, but I believe God has a purpose for all of us throughout our lives.  My mind has been on vacation for the past several months and it’s time for me to wake it up.  At the same time, I hope I’ll be able to help someone else.

ISAIAH 46:8-9   “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.“