Post 15 The cycle of life

Passover and Easter represent transforming tremendous adversity into glory

I wanted to do something different as we start this holiday season with

Passover and Easter. They are both about remembering

the worst things in life, and then transforming them into something magnificent.

The Covid-19 Pandemic did that to all of us, and we in the senior living world especially felt it hard. I’ll never forget March of 2020 when the virus was travelling from NY and Detroit. We were 30 miles west of Detroit and could almost feel it moving in our direction. Within a few weeks it hit us and we lost 12 people in two communities in ten days. Dozens more were sick. We had to lock down like everyone else. It was horrible. Families couldn’t see their loved ones and they were standing outside writing “I love you,” on the windows of their rooms. People who just a few days ago you were playing cards with, were being wheeled off, and you could see the shattered look on the faces of the other residents, their friends, as they watched them being carted away to the hospital.

The relationships people have with each other and the staff are so critical for quality of life. Research and common sense tell us that there are two important elements for happiness, those being having meaningful relationships and stimulating activities. Creating those new relationships when moving into senior living is so important. And losing those relationships can hurt. But its worth it.

Eventually, the Pandemic subsided, and those who survived got through it. We mourned, we remembered, and then we carried on, never forgetting the friends we had lost.

Passover and Easter symbolize these same things to me. Tragedy and Triumph. Those of us who are still here can feel the pain of the past but see the renewed hope in the spring as we look forward to the future in what hopefully will be better times. We have to.

The attached video is song I wrote at the time, about those friends we lost and how we will never forget them. The words are below, and in the video as well.

Enjoy your holiday, everyone. Let’s move forward together.

Dean

Goodbye, My Friend by Dean Solden

You were there and then you weren’t

Left amidst a rising current

You were laughing when I saw you

Last, and then you rode away so fast

I never had a chance to

Say to you before we made our

Final stance together one more

Time just what I felt for you, I

Never had a chance, to say,

Chorus

Good Bye, my friend, until, again

You were, my friend, until the end

Goodbye my friend I’ll always think of

You when I am sitting at our

Table, you’ll be there I’ll still be

Able (to) tell you what I’m thinking

You were there and then you weren’t

Left amidst a rising current

You were laughing when I saw you

Last, and then you left so fast, I

Never had a chance, to say

Good Bye, my friend, until, again

You were, my friend, until the end

Live again you said that to me

Told me I could have another

Reason to get up each morning

I could have at least another

Dawning, look around you used to

Say, there are so many other

Souls, just look into their eyes there’s

So much love to re-a- lize, I

I Never… had a chance…… to say

Good Bye, my friend, until, again

You were, my friend, until the end

You were there and then you weren’t

Left amidst a rising current

You were laughing when I saw you

Last, and then you rode away so fast………

.Dean Solden is the founder and owner of Creative Senior Solutions (CSS), a management, development and consulting company specializing in senior living (www.creativeseniorsolutions.com).

You can reach Dean at (734) 260-3600 or dean@creativeseniorsolutions.com.

If you like music, check out Dean’s music at deansoldenmusic.com for some jazz, blues, and funky piano/vocal tunes.