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With a
focused expression on her face, Irma carefully cut the
Christmas wrapping paper. She was helping me adorn some old,
empty boxes to put under our Christmas tree at the assisted
living facility where I worked. With this little trick, it
makes the scene more complete with beautiful packages under
the branches. The last thing the residents needed was more
stuff to put in their already crowded rooms. The house in
which Irma lived had only been opened about 1?? months, but
already she was anxious to help me with my chores in which I
was the Activities Coordinator.
???Great job,
Irma!??? A broad smile spread across her face and her eyes
twinkled.
???You know, in
the Jewish faith, children are to take the faith of their
???maw-thers,??™??? she said in her Brooklyn accent. My sons
married women who weren??™t Jewish, so I would help them with
their Christmas presents. Since my parents weren??™t strict,
it never mattered to me.???
I sat cutting
the paper and folding it to fit the packages and continued
to listen. Her many memories came quickly of years long ago,
but with her Alzheimer??™s, current thoughts evaporated into
thin air.
Irma??™s
passion is apparent to all. She loves life: little children
and animals are her favorite. She is honest about her
disease, which will bring about a moment of frustration
across the lines of her face.
When she was
young, she knew Perry Como personally within the music
industry. Her face lights up when she carefully relates her
repeated episodes of being escorted by him to her high
school prom. Her life was full of adventures of close-knit,
friendly Brooklyn neighborhoods of years gone by.
As we
finished up our little project and we parted, I began to
understand that the meaning of Christmas is Love, and that
wrapped up in this Christmas season has been a marvelous
gift to me and to others: this woman personifies Jesus in
her behavior. She truly is my wonderful Jewish ???elf.
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