Sending-flowersMy husband and I along with our friends are at the age where we are dealing with aging parents. It seems that no matter who I talk to they are having issues with their parents needing to move out of their homes for safety reasons, or their parents are being treated for some type of ailment. My mother is at the age where she has had more friends die than are still living. My father passed away several years ago so mom has been a widow for a long time. She goes through periods of extreme sadness. She said that she is always sending get well cards, sympathy cards and also sending flowers to the hospital nursing homes, and funeral homes.
My mother has always been very thoughtful. When we were children she would have us make cards to send to people in the nursing home and hospital. She would get lists of names from people that were in the nursing home that did not have family or friends visiting them. She would have us draw a card and she would write inside “someone is thinking about you have a nice day”. She would deliver the cards to the front desk at the nursing home to have the staff deliver them to the rooms. When she would find out that it was someone’s birthday she responded by sending flowers. She went out of her way to make sure that others felt cared for.
It seems that the pace of life has increased so much that people no longer take the time to do the small acts of kindness that can mean so much to a person. Sending flowers has been replaced with grabbing cash and carry bouquets from the supermarket. E-mail has replaced writing letters and E-cards have replaces sending greeting cards. I have tried to follow in my mother’s example of doing random acts of kindness. With all the patient privacy rights you can no longer get the names of people that do not get visitors. I have started sending flowers to the nursing home for them to place in the activity room for all the residents to share. There are so many floral shops that will make arrangements that sending flowers only takes a few minutes, but the joy they bring can make a big difference in someone’s day. I have been trying to encourage my children to reach out to others. I know that the best way to do this is by my actions. I have had my daughter make the call for sending flowers to the nursing home so that she knows how to do this for others.
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