In class on Week 6, we discussed the second half of John Leland’s book, Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old. After the book presentations, Professor Bussell gave us information on how to make posters for the Healthy Aging Symposium which is on June 6. Finally, we did some planning for our HAPs. During that time, we also collected succulent cuttings from ERC for our HAP. Chris had patiently taught us how to cut the plants some days ago and he also gave us a book on plants for reference. I am so glad we met him. On Friday, we had our first Gateway Growing HAP at Potiker Residence. We got there early to set up and as we were organizing, there were already many seniors waiting for the succulent party to start. Soon enough, the room was filled with people and we were all very busy talking to the seniors and helping them make their succulent jars. We had a station for signing in and choosing plants and another one for decorating the jars. We also had a station for food and drinks. The response we got from the seniors was so nice. Everyone loved the event! It was so heartwarming to see the delight on their faces as they decorated their jars. Some people even got into serious discussions about how to best decorate the jars. They were really happy to get their polaroid pictures too. I took a lot of pictures on my camera and one of the seniors, who was very interested in photography, noticed that. He came up to me and asked me questions about my camera. We talked for a little bit and then he left the room only to come 20 minutes later with a list of websites and youtube channels that provide tips on photography. He wrote everything down for me and I was so blown away. I couldn’t thank him enough, he was so kind. What I really liked about our event is that people got the chance to sit down, do a fun activity, take away something special all while having wonderful conversations with each other. It was such a great intergenerational event. I really hope that future LCS cohorts will continue with this project because everyone really appreciated the event and even requested that we have more of them. Even for me, it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had.
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Jayati SharmaWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2019
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