So I am changing my job. For the past 11 months I have been working as a care giver in a dementia boarding home. I have recently earned my CNA and will be starting a new job next week. The change is needed for my family as it will be more money. But what am I leaving behind?
This is the hard part. The folks I cared for were special. Many of them have lived for almost a century. One was a Marine who fought in Kroea. I knew one who once cooked a salmon in a dishwasher to show how good their product was! There have been old army air corps members. Farmers. I met a lady who did arch welding on airplanes during WWII. An example of Rosie the Riveter. Another lady married her high school sweetheart, under one contition, he had to give her 6 children. That is exactly what he did. She had 6 kids and many grand and great grand kids!
I have grown to love many of them. I will miss them. But on the same token, dementia is one of those illnesses that rips at your heart and where's you down. I have been hit, punched, cussed out, kissed, flirted with, slapped on the butt, and even proposed to.
So here is to leaving one job and starting another:
Days of old will live
If at least in our hearts.
Those who you have touched
Remembered in your deepest parts.
But on to new memories.
To new lives and new friends.
For those who you have not met,
My love for everyone will never end.
