Sad little old ladies :-(

Last weekend when I was at the front desk by myself, at my job at the independent living community, there was a little old lady there sitting in the lobby by herself after a circle of friends meeting. She struck up a conversation with me; she did most of the talking. She told me how much she still missed her husband, who had died several years ago, and how this isn't how she imagined living in old age. She told me she had grown up on a farm, and she always thought that when she was old, she would sit out in the woods and paint pictures, or something like that. Be outdoors more. I felt bad for her.

Tonight at work, one of our new residents who is having a hard time settling in set off the emergency pager system and when I ran up to her apartment, she was okay physically, but mentally was having a really hard time. She's been here over a week now, and still doesn't have any furniture to speak of. A bed, and a little table to sit at in the living room. The other residents complain about her, and she is having a hard time making friends. "What did I do to deserve this?!", she cried to me. She's lonely and bored, and doesn't know what to do with herself. I tried to comfort her, but there's only so much I can do. I offered to call her son for her, which she declined, but I ended up calling anyways when I got back to the office, because I was pretty worried about her.

It has to be hard, getting old, not being as independent as you once were, feeling ignored by family. Even if you live in a really nice spot, with all the amenities, activities all day, and plenty of people to socialize with, there's no way around it; it's just hard.