Aug 29, 2013 - Carol Fitzgerald visit at Soquel Leisure Village

From: Carol fitzgerald <ceremonies@carolfitzgerald.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 17:55:32 

Hello all~
Visited with BAB at her new digs today.  Got there at 11, just after she and Beau had arrived.  At first she was weepy and expressed distress at the intensity of the changes.  and I guess the respite care place was pretty bad.

the people there at Soquel Leisure Villa were quite warm and friendly.  And i thought, genuinely so.  it's got great grounds...donkey and all.  Her room is quiet!!

At Beau's request,  I made several efforts to get Barbara Ann to open her mail; put things away where she wanted them...to no avail.

Stubborn chick...also, a bit like a feather on the wind at this point.
So, instead,  while I was there she made friends with the piano. Sang and played for almost an hour.  People began singing in the kitchen, and some even gathered around the piano, encouraging her on.  It was a perfect beginning, I think.

things I noticed or that she may need :
She's  attempting to address her inner struggle with the need to let go of control vs the urge to maintain autonomy.  I encouraged and supported her self suggestion of surrendering to it all, to letting herself be led...  yeah, right... :  )

She mentioned the challenge of remembering how to receive and send emails.  I suggested Having a printed set of steps for accessing and sending email on her computer, on the wall next to her bed.  Her computer wasn't there for me to look at.  Dorothy, do you know what email program she uses?  Could you make such a step by step printed doc?

Her memory/brain is challenged with remembering names of favorite songs to play and sing.  Could someone print up and bring to her next week,  a list of names of songs from Irving Berlin and 20's/30's

Just in case, I brought a tuna wrap and a salad from Trader Joe's.  She loved the tuna,  said she really doesn't want salads now a days.

I saw what they served  for lunch.  Don't think they're a five star, let's put it that way.

I stayed til 1:45.

she didn't want me to leave.  It was hard to go...

best to all~
Carol