Hi friends! Phew, what a long winter that was! I'm still shaking my head at all the long dark, days and all the snow we saw this winter, while appreciating the spring flowers in full bloom! Oregon is beautifully colorful in April. I am thankful to be able to interact with such amazing people every day and assist them in getting out of the house after a dormant winter. We're enjoying making plans for the garden, filling bird feeders, and patiently waiting for more sunshine! Piano music, nail painting, and Easter egg decorating have been fun lately too! PEAR has such wonderful people to call "clients" and such fun and exciting tasks to call "work." Thank you to everyone who has shown us appreciation and I look forward to connecting more in 2017!
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PEAR representatives strive to enrich the lives of elderly people, working to get to know them personally, and often developing long-term relationships. We are able to respond to the changing needs of the elderly individual, tailoring activities to abilities and interests. PEAR feels so privileged to be a part of people's lives, and as part of the life cycle, to be a supportive and familiar face in times of illness or injury. PEAR is also used to hospice care and what it means to approach the end of life; there is no greater honor than to love and support someone in their last days. Whether it is reading, playing music, supporting family members, or sitting quietly, PEAR feels the weight of such an important time, and responds with love, compassion, and companionship. Though we miss our clients and friends that have passed, we look back on the good times, and lives lived fully. We will always carry their memories with us, and do our best to honor them by continuing to care and love as they would.
This Maya Angelou poem, When Great Trees Fall encompasses so much of how it really feels to lose someone you love. I read it often, and work to be better: When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws on kind words unsaid, promised walks never taken. Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves. And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed. ― Maya Angelou We here at PEAR are loving the fall weather! November is off to a great start, last week we celebrated another fun and memorable Veterans Day. It is always humbling to hear stories from PEAR clients that have served our country in various ways, some injured before returning home. I love the natural progression of storytelling, one subject leading to the next, tones shifting from somber to joyful and humorous. PEAR has found that one of the most rewarding projects to do with veterans is to record some of their experiences, and reflect on how they helped shape history.
We have been working to find new ways to help clients document their lives, each individual preferring different modes. We use audio recordings, books of questions, pictures, collages, and recently we have been crafting memory boxes. It's fun displaying old family photos, work or sports awards, military medals, and other mementos. Seeing the smiles that come through when recalling lives well lived is one of PEAR's greatest rewards. What a great summer it was for PEAR and Portland seniors! As always, the local events calendar is full of interesting and fun activities, and with the beautiful weather we have kept busy! Even on those lazy days, we have delicious fruit to enjoy and beautiful flowers of all colors to take in, bringing out the bright side in all of us. PEAR clients and helpers have been happily gardening, celebrating birthdays, making flower arrangements, and 'stained glass' window clings, and learning about airplanes and aviation. We are beginning to welcome signs of the new season, and though we love decorating pumpkins, we will miss the warm days! Happy Fall!
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AuthorStar Houck is the owner/operator of PEAR. She enjoys spending her days with elderly clients, creating fun activities and otherwise soaking up all the beauty Portland has to offer. Archives
April 2017
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