Today was Laura’s first day at the Mansion, she was bewildered, crying and afraid, as most people are when they first arrive and their families are gone.

(photo, from left: Nancy, Laura, Georgianna).

But today was different.

Today, I witnessed one of the most beautiful things I’ve yet seen at the Mansion, Georgianna and Nancy knew how Laura felt, they stepped out of themselves and took her under their wing.

Talk about angels.

They sat with her in the dining room, talked to her about the Mansion’s secrets, insisted she come out and sit with them in the Secret Garden (Bert is back at the Mansion, but recovering from her hospital stay), smoke if she wished, have some soda if she liked.

They even shared their precious chocolate bars with her.

I came to the Secret Garden mid-morning to drop off materials for the Break Room.

I met Laura, introduced my self. “Oh,” she said, “Georgianna has told me about you. You’re the nice man…” I blushed. ‘Isn’t he cute?” Georgianna said with her wicked smile.

Laura was with these two all day, every minute.

They included her in everything they were doing, gave her a tour of the Mansion and one of the muffins I brought, talked about how much fun it would be once she settled down. Life can be hard here, I heard Georgianna say, but it can also be fun and safe.

They didn’t sugar coat life, they are not Pollyannas. They’ve both known some very hard times.

They told her they knew how frightening and lonely the First Day was, they would be her friends, they would stay with her and get her over the hump.  They didn’t try to cheer her up, they just tried to let her know she wasn’t alone.

She had a new community, even when she thought community was lost to her.

Through the day, Laura visibly brightened. I saw her tears try and I saw the first flashes of her shy smile. We all got her to laugh. She loved Fate.

I figured out some things she needed and wanted – new people are always wary of asking for things. I invited her to Bingo. She said she had never played Bingo, probably wouldn’t go tonight.

“You will go tonight, sweetie,” Georgianna assured her. Nancy agreed. Laura knew she was beaten.

All during the game, Georgianna sat next to Laura, showing her how to play the game, how to slide the red number covers, how to pay attention to the caller.

She egged her on, assured her she would win a game. And she did.

Laura won one game early one, and I gave her an angel bracelet and some carved stone animals as a prize, which she loved. When she won, Georgianna and Nancy each cheered and hugged her.

When I left, the three of them were sitting in the Great Room watching a Godfather Movie DVD I had given them last week on the big TV bought by the Army Of Good.

And eating the Nestle chocolate bars I’d brought as a snack.

Laura was wearing her angel bracelet. She was holding the little dog.

She looked at peace at that moment sitting on the sofa close to her new friends, her new family.

I know she has some hard days ahead of her, I also know she will be in good hands. Those two are truly generous, they have big hearts. it is a pleasure to help them get what they need.

They will take good care of her.

Compassion can blossom anywhere, I think. Life is a garden, in a way.

Georgianna, Bert, and Nancy are good friends, they care about each other, defend each other, protect each other and watch over each other. Laura is in the club. The Secret Garden has a new member now.

She is our friend, Nancy told me. Get her some warm socks, please.

(I ordered a winter coat for Nancy tonight, and a wool hat. I’m weary of seeing her shiver out there. These things will arrive on Monday.)

This was one of the most generous and compassion things I had yet seen there, I love those two women and their selflessness. No matter how hard their lives can be, they always think of the other.

Almost everyone at the Mansion, residents, and staff, remembers the first day there. The residents all say it was one of the most frightening, disorienting and painful days of their lives.

It brings me low just to think about it, and there is not much anyone can really do to ease the brutal transition from one part of life to another.

Or so I thought until today.

Georgiann and Nancy did ease Laura’s first day, she trusts her new friends and told me she feels safe just knowing them. She looked right at home in the Secret Garden.

“They have been so nice to me,” she said, filled with gratitude.

I heard them talking earnestly and honestly to one another out there in the cold. How nice, I thought. Just one day, Laura already has someone to talk to, eat with, sit outside with, watch movies with.

Georgianna told me she is taking all of her friends out to lunch at the Round House Cafe with the $75 gift certificate I gave her for her birthday. “I want them all to get a special meal,” she said.

People want their older friends and parents to be happy, but it is not a happy thing to leave everything you love behind and to know your next move in life will be to a nursing home, and soon thereafter, death.

Lots of people come to love the Mansion, it becomes their home. But it is wrenching to see people just after they leave their homes, pets, lives, friends, and way of life behind them, and for good.

But usually, there is not much that can be done. People just have to get used to it, they have to get through the homesickness and the loss.

Most do.

Today spoke to me of the wonder of true humanity, it blossoms anywhere, all it takes is a big heart and generous soul. We all have to keep the flame burning, it is our sacred task.