Friday, June 16, 2017

Nursing Home Resident Says She’s Sad Because Her Hands Are Ugly, So Worker Takes Action

 For some reason in America, people think that getting older isn’t attractive. But the truth is that people age like fine wine. Although older people’s skin might not be as elastic as younger people’s, beauty is so much more than how we look on the outside. And it took one nursing home worker named Brandalyn Mae Porter to show us that. Because the features we dislike about ourselves truly do not determine our worth or beauty. And Brandalyn, who spends a lot of her time with elderly people in a Texas nursing home, is not afraid to remind her elders about this fact. Every time she does, they thank her for the reminder…

Because Brandalyn works with elderly people, she knows that a lot of them are not confident about how they look. Because society has taught us to turn to plastic surgery and other procedures as we age, many people do not feel as beautiful as they should.

Because Brandalyn is a creative young woman, she often looks for fun and engaging ways to interact with the nursing home residents. One day she was painting a new resident’s nails. And the elderly woman opened up to Brandalyn about her insecurities.

Brandalyn shared her uplifting experience on the Love What Matters Facebook page:

“Today I painted a new residents nails at work and as we were going over colors, she mentioned she wanted clear. The only thought that came to my mind was ‘CLEAR?! That’s no fun.’ I asked her why she wanted clear and she said, ‘My hands are ugly, I don’t want to draw attention to them.’

“I then carefully responded with, ‘Your hands tell the story of your life. They tell the story of love, of care and adventure. These hands have touched and held things that most people can only wish to one day.’ And with that, she went with the color pink for her nails. Sometimes what we are so insecure with, others find beauty in.”

Not only did Brandalyn help this resident see herself as beautiful again, she reminded her that her hands show a lifetime of experience. This is something young people often envy and desire for themselves. But unless they’ve gone through the life and have those hands, they’ve yet to earn that experience.

The young nursing home worker’s Facebook post got a lot of attention. Many people have come forward to share their love for what Brandalyn is doing for her residents.

Trish Kristan Ricker wrote, “I love this. Hands do tell the life story. One my most treasured pictures is my mom’s hands and my baby’s hands together. My baby was two months old and my mom was 71, dying from pancreatic cancer. This is one of the few pictures I have of that time.”

Kati Marie Phillips wrote the following about her family: “It was amazing to introduce my daughters to my great grandmother Midge and just sitting with her hearing all her life stories fills my heart I love older people they are so full of knowledge and wisdom.”

Full Article & Source:
Nursing Home Resident Says She’s Sad Because Her Hands Are Ugly, So Worker Takes Action

1 comment:

Jeannie said...

There are always good people who work in nursing homes. Thanks for the reminder.