The Innocence of a Child

Last week a group of ladies from church went over to the Claresholm Longterm Care Centre to visit a dear friend from our ward for her 93rd birthday!  Sister Emma Smith is temporarily staying in Claresholm until there is a bed available for her in Vulcan.  The group of ladies consisted of our Relief Society Presidency, Emma's good friends, Lola and Marguerite, and Kay and Donna, and since we left before Jared got home from work, Calum, Emry and Armin also came along!  I was so proud of our kids, they behaved themselves so well, we stayed and visited for a good 2 hours, we did bring cake and ice cream so I think that helped to keep them entertained!

While we were visiting Emry and Calum were playing with an unused wheelchair, pushing it up and down the short hallway, laughing and having fun!  Sometimes Calum would wander off and play with some of the resident lifts that are stored along the walls, but he wasn't hurting anything or bothering anyone so we let him.  I think the laughing from the kids started to annoy one lady there!  I felt so bad for her and I wasn't really sure how to react to her behaviour.  At one point in the evening she wheeled herself over to our little group and started to swear and yell at us wondering why these kids were still up, why they weren't in bed.  Brenda, being a nurse, told her that it was still early and promised we would get the kids to bed on time.  This didn't appease this lady, Emry was scared of her and honestly so was I, she reminded me of the woman in The Princess Bride, when Buttercup is having the dream before she marries Prince Humperdink!!

Anyway, after more rants by this woman, she even told Emry to stop drinking her water and to stop laughing, the staff finally came and pushed her back into her room.  Emma was telling us that she does this all day long, she is so out of sorts.  It is so sad to see because I am sure when her mind was still healthy she was probably a very nice lady, and probably never swore or cursed to the extent she did to us that evening.

After about half an hour she made her way out of her room again and started wheeling herself over to where Calum was playing with the lifts against the wall.  I was a little worried because she had him cornered, and with her behaviour earlier I was sure Calum was in for an earful and I wasn't too sure how he would react to that.  At home he usually fights us back if he doesn't like what is being said!  This lady, her name is Ruthie, went up to Calum and told him it was time for him to go to bed, he looked at her and very gruffly asked her, "What?"  Well I was sure this was the end of Calum, the tone of voice he used was probably a huge no-no with her generation, I am used to him talking this way because it is his most common answer whenever anyone talks to him.  Well, she surprised me, she put her hands up to the side of her head to show him that she was sleeping, she didn't think he understood her when she said it was time for bed!  

What I witnessed from that point on was truly amazing.  The way Calum and Ruthie communicated to each other was so innocent, like two children talking to each other.  Calum came out from playing with the lifts and started to look more closely at this woman, he noticed her eyes were a little puffy, and pointed at them and asked her, "Your eyes hurt?", he continued to do this with her fingers and her knees.  She would answer him but I couldn't quite make out what she was saying, but it was a lot more subdued than the way she was talking before.  He accidently steped on her foot and I thought for sure she was going to go balistic, but she didn't, Calum bent down to rub her foot and said sorry, she patted his shoulder and told him it was okay.  It was the quietest 20 minutes of the evening for Calum and Ruthie, the interaction between them truly was a unique expereience to witness.  Calum has a heart of gold and to reach out to an elderly woman, not even knowing her is truly remarkable for a two year old.  Most kids would be scared, especially with the way she was acting earlier in the evening.  I am thankful my children have the opportunity to meet people in every stage of life, I find it gives them empathy towards others and helps them understand the trials others face.  I have heard many times how some elderly people can revert back to a childlike state, and I truly witnessed it that evening when Ruthie completely changed when she started to interact with Calum, they truly were on the same wave length, and even though it was heartbreaking to see her in that state it was also rewarding to see what the innocence of a child could bring out in another!