Deloris was in the dining room when I arrived a little after 3:00 this afternoon.  She was sitting in her wheel chair, facing away from a group of residents sitting around a table engaged in an activity led by Rene, the Activities Director.  Deloris down, her tilted head resting against the palm of her hand.  Her eyes were shut.  I softly nudged her awake; she acknowledged my presence with a slight smile and recognition in her eyes. For the next half hour or so, she would alternate between slouching eyes closed or intently staring at a word puzzle page on the piano next to her chair.  With loud and sometimes discordant (conflicting) conversations as ambient noise and Deloris's otherwise engaged focus, talking was difficult and mainly short, almost monosyllabic exchanges.  Rather Deloris was entranced with the puzzle which involved letter substitution. Solving it gave a sentence with an Easter bunny theme.  Left over from activity done during the holidays.  So, apparently, when I thought she was merely staring at the paper, she was actually solving the problem by "breaking the code."  Can't believe I thought otherwise.  :-)   Deloris claimed she wasn't sleepy, not even tired, but merely resting her eyes when she had them closed.  We briefly held hands, well, fingers actually, during this time.  It was sweet. 

My focus, as well, was split.  Part was zoned in on Deloris and part with what else was happening in the room. 
Behind Deloris, Rene, the facility's activities director, engaged some residents in reading aloud parts of a  story which Rene thought could be turned into a form of readers' theater and performed. Participants  seemed engaged and the readings were audible and articulate.  Deloris had apparently chosen not to take part, since she had placed herself facing away from the group.  

A fascinating next step in the activity was when Rene encouraged attendees to use their imagination, think outside the ordinary; avoid scientific, logical, sensible responses.  Think like a child, she encouraged.   Then came a series of questions, thought prompts (or writing prompts.)  Typical of the prompts:  Describe the wind with three words.  What does a mango taste like? What about an avocado? What does the sun feel like?  What color is the wind?  I was fascinated at the diversity of responses as I observed the demeanor of the respondent.  Some had clearly been engineers or some form of scientist; others were very literal (e.g., the sun feels warm; a mango tastes like a mango.)  There were no wrong answers, something else Rene emphasized.  All answers were right since they all depended on how the prompt was interpreted and the filters through which the person responding used in answering.

As I was pulled into the activity by Rene, Deloris became more awake and interested.  I don't think the two are necessarily related, just timing.  She moved her chair around so that she faced Rene and was within the activity's "circle."  Silently tracking what was going on, Deloris seemed unable to formulate the words to verbalize a response when asked.  Since she had just come into the circle, this too may have been timing.  Or it just be a day when Deloris isn't very talkative.  Don't know.  Perhaps she was just slow waking up in the afternoon.  She seemed sufficiently awake and alert to surroundings as time passed. 

When the activity ended, with Rene relating a story about a dead horse in the septic tank, an experience Rene and her family had when they lived in central Ohio.  Deloris was not familiar with the town, perhaps because she grew up in a different part of the state.  I found the story to be very entertaining, which I am sure is a different emotion than what Rene felt in the experience.  I then helped reposition Deloris's chair so she would be better able to eat, as dinner service was to begin momentarily.  I took this as my cue to get a kiss goodbye and head home, having enjoyed another visit with Deloris involving yet another unexpected experience.  

I think I will take these prompts to writers' group tomorrow.  Feel free to respond to any of these prompts in the comments, or ponder them at your leisure.

Thanks for hanging in.   wishing you a weekend of 

Hugs, love, and laughter (or any combination)