Nursing home

This is another easy one.

Almost all of us have an elder in our lives.  If your parents and grandparents are no longer living, you have great-aunts and uncles, or elderly neighbors.  Many elders are widowed and may be lonely.

This week, spend some time with an elder.  If you still have one or more of your parents or grandparents, make a date to take them out to lunch, or to a movie or another event they might enjoy.  As a parent of grown children myself, I absolutely guarantee that you will make their day.  If your parents or grandparents don’t live near you, then call them, or send them a surprise.  It can be something small, like a book or video that you think they would enjoy.

If your parents and grandparents are no longer living, do a small kindness for an older relative or an elderly person in your neighborhood.  Pick up their newspaper from their driveway and put it on their front porch.  Better yet, knock on the door and hand it to them with a smile and a few words of conversation.  Take your elderly neighbor a jar of homemade soup of a plate of fresh-baked cookies if you’re cooking this week.

I’m blessed to still have my mother in my life.  My plan is to take her out to lunch this weekend.  What’s your plan to brighten up an elder’s day?