The Best Dance Moves My Eyes Have Ever Seen

Last weekend I was paired with a woman named Mary. Before she came I was thoroughly warned of her less-than-sunny disposition. Her tendancy to complain and be generally grouchy all the time had me slightly nervous and so I was prepared to need all of my patience to get through the weekend. But she arrived, was lowered down on the lift on the van, and glanced up with a HUGE smile on her face! As it turns out, she was in a great mood for the entire duration of the break! Her speech is a little unclear but she would just mumble away, and then chuckle and then her chuckle would turn into a full-blown laugh, at which point her dentures would come out of place. To be honest, I rarely fully understood what she was laughing about, but her laughter made me laugh. At first, myself and the other volunteers seriously wondered if she had been put on anti-depressants or some other mood altering drug because her demeanor was so drastically different from when she had been in last. Khadija assured she was not, so I was just thankful that I got to be with her on a 'good' weekend!



The rest of the members were also fun but I want to make special mention of a man named Keiran. I first met Keiran in my first couple weeks here when we went to the Pantomime production of 'Jack and the Beanstalk.' We sat next to each other and chatted a little before the show began. During intermission, Keiran disappeared for a while and returned with two ice creams in his hand--one for him and one for me. I tried to graciously decline the ice cream and encouraged him to give it to another member, but he insisted I have it. So that was our first meeting, and from then on I've always had a little place in my heart for this thoughtful, and immaculately dressed man. So I was really excited when I found out he was coming in for a group before I left. I had heard rumours of his dance moves from the other volunteers and couldn't wait to see them for myself. Luckily, on Friday night, we went to the Hilton where a live 'band' (if you want to call it that, really it was a guy on the electric keyboard and another guy with a guitar playing covers of horrible soft rock songs) was playing. But music is music so the dancing began...even Mary said she wanted to dance so her and I got up as I wheeled her around in her chair. Keiran is a big fan of the spotlight and so when everyone else sat down to take a break, that's when he got up to show us all what real dancing is. And I was not one bit disappointed. He had the whole crowd cheering with moves I have never even seen. Some of my favorites involved a full handed hair stroke (see picture below), and some exaggerated hip circles with a popped collar when an Elvis Presley song was played by request.





On Sunday afternoon, after we arrived home from Mass in Seabury, we had a really nice picnic in the backyard. It was the first of the summer-y season and we all donned our sunglasses to enjoy the beautiful weather. Below is a picture of Sister Mary, the nun who lives in the house full time. She has been with CASA since the beginning and although she is now in a wheelchair and needs full time assitance from a PA because her MS has progressed to such a stage, she still helps out with Mass at the house and leads the welcome prayer for adults groups. I realized I didn't have any pictures of her on this blog, but this one below of her and one of her PA's, Claris is a good one and thought I should add it.



We had 3 days off after the group and the girls and I planned a little indulgent day in the city centre. What started off just being a plan for a haircut, turned into a haircut, lunch, AND dessert. Claire, Kate, Lisa and I went to a hairdressing school that does cuts for only 10 euro. While Claire, Kate and I all just got regular haircuts, Lisa went a little wild and got a large panel of her hair died pink. Our haircuts were followed by the best lunch I've had in a while at this vegetarian restauraunt kind of close to Temple Bar area called Cornacopia. Stuffed, we walked around a bit and ended up laying in the sun in St Stephen's Green for an hour or so. It was beautiful. The flowers were in full bloom and the sun was shining. The four of us then headed to Queen of Tarts for dessert where we all shared from a selection of desserts (my top choice was the raspberry cheesecake tart). It was a nice way to spend an afternoon. We walked out of Queen of Tarts vowing to never eat again, but it was totally worth it. And nice to spend a day with the girls outside of the house.



Tomorrow is my last group...It seems so crazy to be near the end of my time here at CASA. But it's a kids group, which are my favorite...they are more exhausting, but so much fun...and we are going to a place called Hurly Burly which is basically a huge playroom with pits of plastic balls and things to climb in and jump through.

I hope everyone is doing really well back home. I hope school is wrapping up successfully and that exam stress is not getting to anyone. I love you all and miss you!

Love,

Kate