Show Elders Your Love with Periodic Greeting Cards

My gerontologist friend up north, Karen, wrote this item about how important receiving a greeting card can be to an elderly person, especially a family member.
 
Check out what Karen says here and then think about picking up some greeting cards TODAY to send to your elderly friends and family members.
 
It can mean a lot, sometimes the difference between life and death, as you will see in what Karen says.
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I’ve never been much of a card sender. There were times I considered them a waste of money, but not any more. My mother changed that opinion.

A few years back, my mother got sick. She is hardly ever sick. She called me crying. That’s a rarity. She was having trouble grasping things and her feet felt “funny.” I implored her to go to the doctor, but her reply was, “Oh, I’ll be alright. It’s probably nothing.”

Just a few days later, my father took her to emergency. My daughter and I met them there and my mother was already fussing that we shouldn't have come. Within a few hours she was in a regular room. A whole team of doctors worked on her case, trying to figure out what was wrong. 

The next night, I went to see her after work and she had been moved to ICU. Daddy was standing at the door, trying to block my view of her.
I looked passed him and seen my mother hooked up to a ventilator. She was paralyzed from the neck down. I held in the tears pretty good until my mother mouthed, “It’s not so bad.” That’s when I lost it. 

She was on the ventilator for two weeks. She had a condition called Guillain Barre’ Syndrome. Her blood had to be “washed” twice a day, and a special mattress kept her from getting bed sores. It was a dark time in our family. We can only imagine what she was going through.
 
After a month in the hospital, my mother recovered. Not long after, she began to talk about her experience. She said most of the time, she was unaware of what day it was, but sometimes the time just seemed to drag on.
It was the nights that were the worst, she said. But there was a bright spot that helped her get through. Her niece, who lived hundreds of miles away had sent her a greeting card.
It was sparkly with beautiful flowers which my mother loves. My daughter propped the card up where my mother could see it. It had to be placed in just the right spot because my mother could only move her head an inch or two.

“Even at night that card would shine,” my mother said. “I would look at it and it just seemed to make me feel better.”

Greeting cards may only be pretty paper, ribbons and sweet words to some. I've learned they are worth a whole lot more.

The thoughtfulness and love sent with them can brighten a day for someone who really needs it.

So, like mamma, I have my own special place to keep my pretty cards, after they've been displayed for months around the house. We might as well get our money’s worth. The thoughts and love sent with them are priceless!
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Greeting cards are available most anywhere, are cheap to send, yet can mean a fortune to the elderly person who gets one. 

San Clemente Villas provides full-service, luxury assisted living to those over the age of 65. San Clemente Villas by the Sea is at 660 Camino De Los Mares, San Clemente, CA 92673. Phone: (949) 489-3400 | Fax: (949) 234-0081. Contact: Paul or Aileen Brazeau, Co-Owners of San Clemente Villas by the Sea. www.SanClementeVillas.com | abrazeau@cox.net.