Lessons from work: Listening

As I go through a day at work, I find myself listening... a lot! I listen to the sound of clinking plates, the doors shutting, the furnace running, the nurses, the people walking and the buzzer buzzing. As you have read from previous posts, I work with elderly people. 

Normally, I am as kind as possible while running around doing chores in a timely matter. But what would happen if we could sit down and listen to these people who have so much wisdom, and so much more experience than my generation combined! What if our generation didn't always voice their opinion, instead we listened and then asked questions? Wouldn't we be smarter, wiser, and maybe more conscious of what we are saying?

Why is it so hard to listen to our elders? Our elders want to fill us with their knowledge so we don't make the the same mistakes as they did. When I get a chance, I try to go into a room and listen to a resident talk about what they did when they were my age. I have heard lots of stories of greatness and heard lots of heartache. Unfortunately, one day these people are no longer going to be with us and we are going to miss them. So even though you have heard the stories of your grandparents and parents a million times, listen again and maybe you'll hear something different. 

Valentine's Day aka Singles Awareness Day

Happy Valentine's Day

Love is in the air.

Most men and women, in love are excited for this Hallmark holiday. To others like me, those single people in the world, this day is not so exciting. We could treat it like any other day, but we don't. We see the price for roses go up, chocolate comes flowing out stores and all the restaurants are packed with lovers of every shape and size.

(google)

You probably think I hate Valentine's day, to be honest, I like Valentine's day. Men go out of their ways to make women feel special. I especially love those cheesy valentines you get from friends or significant others that say, "If I could rearrange the alphabet, I would put U and I together." or "You're like a dictionary you added meaning to my life!" Also, I could never hate this day because my parents got married on this day 28 years ago. Without them I wouldn't be here, and that would be sad. 

I have been thinking to myself lately, there must be a purpose or a reason I haven't met "the one." For a long time I thought I wasn't good enough until I was looking at Pinterest one day and came across this quote.

(pinterest)

 I believe this. I am not going to change who I am to find "the one." No one should change themselves to be with another person. Either you like a person for who they are or you don't like them. I will find my handsome prince someday but for now I will remain single, and that is okay. (Click the link to see my thoughts on being single). Someday I will find my Prince Charming, and we will spend every Valentine's day together. For now, I guess I will indulge in big amounts of chocolate, self bought flowers and cuddling with my dogs.

(My cuddle buddy, Ice)