An attitude adjustment and a new friend...

Many of you know that I am not a fan of nursing homes. I absolutely hate going to visit nursing homes. Every year at this time we, as Missionette Leaders at church, take all of our girls to a nursing home to hand out hand-made gifts to the residents and sing for them. I know they love having us, they love talking, they love hearing the songs and many sing right along. Still...I cant help it, some people have that 'end stages of life gift' thing going on, and some don't...I am in the don't category.
So Wednesday night was the night. I must admit all day I hoped the snow and icy conditions would continue so we might not go...MEAN, I know! But true. So admittedly, I had a bad attitude and was secretly hoping the hot chocolate making ladies would somehow not be at church so I would have to stay behinde and make hot chocolate. When we arrived at church we got all the girls signed in and assigned to vans and leaders. Piled into the vans and headed down to the nursing home. Yes, I went...
I have an actual physical reaction to places like that. I think it goes way back to childhood when we spent every single Christmas day going from one VA Hospital and nursing home to another, the entire day singing delivering gifts we had spent weeks making, always ceramic ornaments we painted and baked. I remember being so sad for the people we visited. All these memories flood my mind whenever I enter one of these places. I think its the smell that takes me back in time. Anyway.
Wednesday night, I saw the people from a new perspective, I saw the sadness, I saw the loneliness reflecting in their eyes as they watched our girls sing. I heard the laughter of a couple residents at the joy the girls carried into the room with them.
And....I made a friend....if you look carefully in the picture, tucked back behinde all the girls sits my new friend. She sang her heart out with the girls, she ordered cookies from the cooks early in the day in anticipation of giving back to our girls. So....I sat. next to my new friend. we talked. I listened. I held her hand. And God whispered into my heart, 'this is why the snow stopped falling, the hot chocolate is being prepared by the hands I have chosen. I had a friend I wanted you to meet.' My friend recently lost her dear husband after 66 years of marriage. She is madly in love with him still and longs to be with him now. I held her hand a bit longer. I listened some more. I dried her tears. and we laughed.She has such a sweet laugh. The time came for me to leave. I hugged my new friend. and thanked her. She does not know it but the gift she gave to me Wednesday night in my least favorite place on earth was far greater than any gift she could have recieved from us, her singing visitors.