“I am at home here.”
I have lived in Sélection Retraite Ile des Sœurs for 10 years now. It has become my home. The staff are extraordinary when times are normal and were doubly so during the quarantine. They have multiplied the little attentions to please us despite everything. We had a treat at Easter, plants for Mother’s Day, and all the meals were brought right to our apartments.
The management made a wall complete with rainbows and the names of employees they wanted to thank. It’s a nice mark of recognition that probably motivated the staff to give 100%. They didn’t count their hours of work and everyone was in a good mood. Even if it was their day off, they were here.
I started a knitting club when I arrived here and, of course, the women who participate in it missed our knitting afternoons, and so did I. The residence rearranged the large dining room so that about 10 people could knit at the same time while keeping at a two-metre distance. That really lifted morale and we had the pleasure of seeing each other and knitting together.
To keep myself busy, I played games on my iPad, I did hidden-word puzzles and I listened to English quizzes on TV. That made my brain work! I also painted. During the quarantine, I painted a watercolour representing the current crisis. I hung it in my bedroom. The residence invited musicians outdoors and in the corridors to brighten our days.
I am lucky to live on the ground floor so my children came to visit me on my balcony. We opened the patio door and chatted, me inside and them outside. At least I could see my world and that did me a lot of good.