For Our Elders, Photos Are Sweet Journeys Through Time

For Our Elders, Photos Are

Sweet Journeys Through Time
Engaging those with memory loss can be an exercise is patience. We know they must be frustrated and scared, but there is a way to give them reprieve – just open up the family photo albums. Take them back in time to happy memories.
Photographs engage all our senses. They help us recall a time and place where we enjoyed being young and full of life. Through these scraps of paper, we see loved ones who are now gone. We remember how our mother's kitchen smelled and what our Daddy told us about being honest and good. We see our sweet little babies when they were new to the world. We gaze on pets we loved when we were children. We remember the excitement of graduating from high school and how our honey looked the day we tied the knot!
Open up the family albums and get ready for stories to pour out of your loved one. Sit quietly and ask just a few questions. Give your loved one time to think about each face, each place and each emotion that's evoked. Elders with even moderate memory loss often recall their youth with perfect clarity. Now is the time to ask all those questions and find out what you wanted to know about your mom, dad, or grandparents. You'll be making new memories while engaging your loved one in conversations they can truly enjoy.
My mother keeps her photos out where we all can easily reach for them. A huge heart-shaped candy box hold lots of them from when I was a child. She has album after album of the grandkids and greats. Her descendants look through these all the time, asking questions about each one. It's really a great bonding time for all of us. I will warn you though. Sometimes a few photos go missing after one of these photo sessions!
I've always been the family photographer. I do my best to keep my mother stocked with the latest photos of the family. When I bring her a stack, she and daddy will spend hours looking at each one. A few days later new ones will be posted on momma's bulletin board or wind up displayed near my daddy's easy chair. It gives the kids a thrill to see their faces on granny's walls.
The oldest photos are truly cherished in my family. I am so happy I can now share these with distant cousins through the magic of Facebook. One of my cousins started a family Facebook page for my mother's clan. It's been awesome to see photos of relatives that are now gone from us, but remain in our hearts. I love the ones of my momma when she was young. Many of them she's wearing those full skirts and posing like the movie stars of the day. There's one of her in her first pair of jeans. Her cuffs are rolled up and her pair of saddle oxfords are positioned for all to see.
So take a journey back with your older loved one. Even if they suffer Alzheimer's or another dementia, they'll enjoy the experience. While you're at it, get the camera out. You want some great photos to add to the family collection!
San Clemente Villas provides full-service, luxury assisted living to those over the age of 65. It is located at 660 Camino De Los Mares, San Clemente, CA 92673. Phone: (949) 289-1534 Fax: (949) 234-0081. Contact: Aileen Brazeau, Co-Owner of San Clemente Villas by the Sea. --- abrazeau@cox.net.