Posted 7/2/20
:Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. -Proverbs 7:2
“As the pupil of the eye, the hole or the opening of the uveous coat, or iris, through which the rays of light pass, and falling upon the retina, there depict every object in its natural colour, as upon a piece of white paper. Now the pupil of the eye being essentially necessary to sight, and easily injured, it is not only, in common with the other parts, deeply entrenched in the skull, ramparted with the forehead and cheek bones, defended by the eyebrows, eyelids, and eyelashes, and placed so as to be best protected by the hands, but, by a wonderful mechanism, is contracted or dilated by the muscular power of the iris, without which an excess of light would cause instant blindness.”- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on Proverbs 7:2
“Apple of thine eye — אישׁון עיניךְ, (ishon enecha,) the little man of the eye, referring to the reflected image in the eye. The Greeks called it κορη, or κορασιον, the damsel, or little damsel: the Latins pupa, or pupilla, of the same meaning; from whence came our word pupil (of the eye.) The sense is, Guard or keep my instructions, as you do the sight of your eyes. Comp. Proverbs 4:4; Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalms 17:8; Lamentations 2:18; Zechariah 2:12.” –Whedon’s Commentary of the Bible (Not my favorite scholar, but I thought it was interesting…)
Hi all! For much of the working world, Happy Friday-ish! I will be writing tomorrow, but from home after sleeping in on my 3-day weekend :). Woot! Tomorrow is a particularly historic day for this little blog, but I won’t spoil that news quite yet. Today we march on with a quickie post about teams.
I love teams. I love togetherness, camaraderie, working together…you know….team stuff. (Note: the mission statement of my employer “Working together. Finding Options. Bettering Lives.” fits my preferences perfectly.). Movies I love almost always involve a team of diverse talents (Lord of the Rings, The Untouchables, etc…). Until 2020, I could often be found watching live baseball games when possible, attending concerts with friends and family, and serving in varying capacities in church teams. Looking back, it has always been that way. But, blog boy, what do your various teams have to do with dementia? Here is a few ways:
- Red Rover. When I was a kid, I was the master of Red Rover. The link shows a comedy version of the game, but my version as a 4th grader was no laughing matter. I would hold on so tightly to the hand of the poor, typically smaller kid next to me that the only way the other team would break my line is the removal of said hand from the socket. This game reminds me that dementia care teams are made up of individuals with diverse talents…sure…but diverse weaknesses too. As a team, we have to pick up the slack for each other, but we also know that our teammates may be weak in some areas, but they are strong in other areas. Help your team find their niche in helping care for your loved one. You may WANT a loved one to, say, rake leaves since you will need to be in the house…but he or she may be allergic. Find something else for them to help with. So many times folks do want to help, but need direction. You know what they say….”Teach a man to fish….”
- Tournament of Knowledge– In HS, partially to the disappointment of the school administration, our team, called Road Kill, won the school tournament of knowledge and represented our school in a larger competition. We weren’t the best option, we shall say. We weren’t well-connected. We weren’t even all honor roll students…but we worked hard. Our team reminded me on advocating for folks with dementia. We need average folks like me….many, many of them…to talk to/develop relationships with government leaders to help tell our stories. People who use big words are fine…but people who tell the story, in my book, are the most critical. If you aren’t in AIM, consider joining it. 🙂
- Work teams. I have been fortunate to work around many, many great folks for years. As an I.T. professional, some of the brainiest folks you ever would meet have been right down the hall in my jobs. But you know what? They didn’t know everything. What made them smart wasn’t only their enormous IQ, but their ability to know when it was time to contact a subject matter expert. Einstein would have had to call my wife to stop 12:00pm from flashing on his VCR because we don’t know it all. When you experience one or more of the warning signs of dementia, seek the subject matter expert…your doctor. There are things that can be done to help and you can prepare…if you know.
We have to stick together. None of us are strong enough to battle this disease ourselves. Let’s rally around our little team and get a plan to beat this disease. What do you think?
#EndALZ
Update: Mom is about the same. Her hands were probably just having circulation problems the other day at the visit. I am hoping the fireworks don’t get close enough to bug her at her nursing home.
Check back tomorrow for my exciting piece of info about the blog. It will be a truly historic day 🙂
Dad Joke of the Day: “What’s brown and sticky? A stick.”
Bonus Dad Joke of the Day: “How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh? Ten tickles.”