Reach Out and Touch ….Someone Elderly

Human touch is much more important to the elderly than to the rest of us folks. Maybe this is because often friends and loved ones have passed on. The elderly have no one left to touch them. We all need human contact. Days can go by without anyone touching or hugging an elderly person.

I have noticed that the nurses and health aides, who have appeared at Bea’s bedside over the past couple months, all seem to be aware of this reality and touch my mother. They do their best to make physical contact.

As I am feeding Bea this morning, I kiss her forehead. Coming in close, I tell her, “We love you.”

Bea rewards me with that twinkly smile of hers. “I love you,” she says. “I love your face.”