elder craft

Trust me, elder craft is anything but as fuddy duddy as it might sound.  It's my first foray into actually DOING something to help families & friends have a ball with older loved ones & friends.

Hmmm....  Working on ways to give families & friends creative ways to connect in enriching & rewarding ways with their olders.  What a fun project!

Perhaps THE greatest challenge in working with the aged - especially ones who are, by necessity, in a senior care residence - is getting them past a deadening sense of having little to no purpose.  

My inner elder care anarchist cries out to move beyond painting & other traditional forms to find ways that we can team with beloved olders to craft new views & fresh perspectives, or just record treasured moments & magic from long ago.  Not all drenched in sunshine & rainbows, but light-touch substance, grounded in their interests & loves, even their purpose in this present moment.  

Impossible to convey the excitement building in my heart soul spirit as this project latches more & more onto my imagination & energies.  

For years, have pondered doing something a la Tryn Rose Seley that encourages an expansive older age, to do it in ways that can be easily shared with youngers, in ways that gets youngers involved & more strongly connected to aging loved ones.  

For whatever reason, my mind goes back to when my American niece & her husband brought their 3-year old & baby daughter over to our house for a visit.  They were used to visits with Mom, which always revolved around some sort of foodie spread.  I wanted something different, something that forged a different sort of connection.  When the four of them arrived, I'd set up the island as a craft station.  My niece was a bit thrown - wasn't it expecting more of my great-niece than the 3-year old could deliver?  I didn't think so.  The projects were actually very simple, they just had snazzy results.  The things that would have been complicated - like decorating snowflake cookies - were a snap because the prep work (including baking the cookies) had been done ahead of time.  

Campbell did a beautiful job decorating the cookies, which we tied up for giving in cellophane bags with ribbons that she selected from my collection.  We shaved dark chocolate & added it to cocoa mix, which we then layered in a baby jar with mini marshmallows, sealed it with a lid that she decorated & added the label Campbell's Snowman Soup.  I don't remember the 3rd craft, but will never forget the looks of delight on her parents faces watching their little girl & older aunt having great fun or the glee in my brother's voice when he called to say, "Wow!"  Today, Campbell is a "tween" & far off in Melbourne, Australia.  But our time together all those years ago is still fresh in my mind.

We crafted a connection along with gifts.  We both expanded because of that short hour on a December afternoon.

The dynamics that made that such a joyful, enriching occasion are also present in the best creative opportunities with our olders - keep it simple, keep it short, keep it meaningful.  Families & friends want ways to connect and older people need ways to... feel more.  

Creativity projects - ones that leave everyone feeling GREAT, like Campbell & her parents & me.  An idea whose time has come!!