I enjoy my visits with my assisted living pals, and this one started even before I reached the great room. There was an elderly lady sitting in a wheelchair in the hallway, and when she saw me walking on my leash, she wanted to see me! So I spent a few minutes with her before heading off to see the rest of the residents.
The big room was full, and there were a lot of residents I hadn’t seen before, along with the regulars. The only problem is they were mostly asleep, even though there was a seniors workout on the TV. I immediately jumped up on the couch to visit one lady. Sometimes I do that, I just choose where I want to go and my human has to follow.
After visiting that lady, I also saw an elderly Spanish speaking woman in a wheelchair. The people in wheelchairs are hard to visit because their laps don’t offer a stable sitting surface for me. But I sat and let her hold and pet me for a little bit.
My friend who likes my high fives was on a sofa nearby, and next to her was a partly-blind lady in a wheelchair. This lady told my human how she used to have cats, and she was very happy to see me. She handed her phone to my human so she could take photos of me with her.
The TV workout came to an end, so my human took me over to see one of my regulars. She had been the only one who was doing any part of the workout, and it was just the arm movements. So she was happy to visit with me for a little while. The nonverbal woman who always pets me with heavy hands was also on the sofa, but she was deeply asleep. The last few visits I’ve had, she’s always been asleep. But this time, the staff was gathering up residents for a midmorning snack and she woke up. She reached out to pet me heavily, and I just laid down and let her. Then she looked groggily at my human with the slightest smile and fell asleep again.
It was kind of a sweet end to the visit.
