Son of the Shadow

To do some research for the Engineering design (which by the way is creating a device to improve the life quality of a senior, 85+) I went to the Assisted Living center down the street. I should visit more often. I truly do enjoy speaking with the older people and what they need most is interaction with the younger people or just other people in general. As it is, they are rather rotting away slowly but surely. I met this one very witty older lady whose name was "Freddie." Her parents had decided she was going to be a boy and her father decided upon the name "Fred" so when she was born her mother just changed it to "Freddie." When I first arrived there was a large group of school children there reading with the older folks. I was very glad for that time and just being a part of it. There was this one lady who was suffering from dementia, she wanders around, her little old dog (named "Baby Doll") following her everywhere and she came up to me and mumbled something about putting the paper in the hair styling room and then took me to show me the room where she found a pair of shoes she had left there apparently and she carefully wrapped them up in a washcloth and carried them out as if they were a precious treasure. She had trouble speaking and asked me about whatever happened to Tom, who apparently was her brother in law I found out. I felt rather helpless but at the same time like I wanted to just be around to help, to be an encouragement to some of these people. I hope to go back after the semester (at the very least) and at least show what our team came up with.