Nursing home living can strip you of your identity. Forget modesty and it becomes a challenge to remember who you really are in a "take a ticket -- take a wheelchair" environment.
So last night I had the privilege of giving my mother a manicure.
She was so pleased to look down and see her life worn hands with nails shaped and polished.
It did us both good to have a reason to hold hands.
Touch is always important but I believe that the same failure to thrive syndrome in babies not touched also affects our survival in later years when our world is not so big.
There are so many ways to serve others and mani-pedis in nursing homes is an innovative one.
Maybe we should all reach out and touch someone who is lonesome?
Yes, you are so right here! Your mother is blessed to have you care for her. For Christmas a few years ago I bought my mother one of those Way Too Expensive Dead Sea manicure sets that they accost you with in the mall. She loves me to do it. But her favorite is her pedicure, when I paint her toes bright red. She never did that before in her life.
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