Experiment Day 11 and 12: Helping Others (Mary)

This weekend was very long and made me very tired. I was very busy and I had a lot to do, but I was still able to do some volunteer work.  I was able to volunteer at a nursing home and I was able to touch the life of someone very special.  I met a woman named Mary and we became very close over the weekend.  I was able to learn about her life and she was able to learn about mine.  I listened to a lot her stories from her life as well as told her some of mine.  I learned how she ended up in the nursing home and about her family and I even got to meet her son at lunch on Saturday.  I couldn't believe that I was able to give her a smile on her face because she said that I reminded her a lot of herself when she was twenty years old and that she enjoyed seeing and speaking to someone that was a lot like her.  I feel like I was able to let Mary feel comfortable about opening up and telling me stories and that she felt like she had listening ears and a friend by her side.

After we talked for over an hour, we were able to eat lunch together and our conversations continued.  We spoke about college and how she wanted to go, but she couldn't and how she was very excited to see me accomplish my goals in college.  We talked as if we had know each other for years.  I felt so comfortable and I loved being able to talk to her as if she was my Grandma or my best friend.  I enjoyed every second of it and I know by the smile and the pure joy that she was expressing that it also made her day and we were able to lean on each other and talk as friends.

The next part was we read some inspirational quotes from a book and we began to talk about how somethings happen in life that we may not agree with, but how in the end everything that we go through or deal with makes us who we are and how embracing change and others things around us can help us become strong and make us better people.  I loved reading to her because she said that she use to read all the time, but her eye sight isn't what it use to be so reading has become difficult for her.  We read quite a bit and then we drank coffee together and continued to talk.  I don't think I have talked to someone that long in my life, but it was so worth it.

As we rapped up our talking it was almost time for us to play some Bingo and we were so excited to play.  We played Bingo for almost two hours and wow we laughed so much and enjoyed looking at the prizes to see what we should get and I enjoyed it all so much, just like she did.  I feel like I was able to do so much for Mary and that at the end of the weekend I was so glad that I got to meet her and she touched my life as well.