Mary Dunham
One Special Lady…
After volunteering for over ten years, I had one of themost amazing volunteer experiences. As you know, most women love to shop and my mission was to meet up at the mall with a wheelchair-bound patient to purchase rings for her granddaughters. “Linda” wanted to surprise her daughter as well as her granddaughters. Upon meeting this wonderful 67 year-old woman, I learned early on that she was one special lady. During our conversation she said, “I just want to make it easy for everyone.” Linda repeated this several times, not from dementia, but she truly didn’t want to burden her family. I remember thinking, wow—here she is dying, yet thinking of everyone else andI get to be a part of this. I am so lucky!
Knowing she was terminal, her goal was to purchase two identical sapphire rings for her granddaughters wedding days (for the something borrowed, something blue). The “girls” I learned were currently six and four years old. Linda said her daughter was going to be mad at her for doing this, but in my heart, I knew her daughter would be overwhelmed emotionally by this Grandma’s final gift. Arriving at the jewelry store, she told the salesman that she was looking for two natural, not created, sapphire rings. As he showed her some rings, she told him she had double vision. She looked at the rings and found one she liked. He told her the price and I asked if that was in her price range. It was but just a bit more. I asked if she could get a better price since she was purchasing two rings. “Why yes!” When the salesman turned away, Linda said, “good thinking.” I would never have thought to ask that question. I told her I never heard the expression created or natural sapphire and said I had learned something from her. Linda said we made a good team. She explained to the salesman that we would be looking at other stores and may be back. We then proceeded to look at five other places, searching for the perfect ring. Each time she would share her story, looking for two rings for her granddaughters to wear on their wedding day, and that she had double vision. I observed the sale people wanted more than this sale, they wanted to be a part of this women’s story. Needless to say, the last place we went, we found theperfectring. Putting the ring on her finger, she knew the ring would glisten and sparkle on the girls hand when they walked down the aisle.
After making the purchase, the sales woman saw my volunteer badge and asked a few questions as she felt her family was going to be needing some health services in her parent’s home. Our badges are indeed a great way to be ambassadors for Hospice of Medina County and Barberton Hospice & Palliative Care. Okay, back to the story.
Next stop, the card store. Thankfully, she knew her way around the mall and directed me to the store. Guess what she wanted to buy? Wedding cards to accompany the rings for her granddaughters on their wedding day, can you believe it? She has thought of everything! I chuckled and again thought about how lucky I was to be a part of this. When she found the cards she wanted she again said, “perfect.” “We are cooking, just like Crisco.”Oh how we laughed and high-fived each other.
We had a few minutes left and she wanted to cruise through the Disney Store to see if there was anything that caught her eye for her granddaughters. Sapphires to Disney, what can I say? It was now time to meet up with her ride back to the nursing home.Mission accomplished. She said we made a good team and maybe we could go shopping together again. Believe me, I’ll beat you to that volunteer request every time. As I hugged her goodbye, and was thanked profusely by the nursing home staff, I quickly turned so they couldn’t see the tears welling up in my eyes.
~ Volunteer Mary Dunham, serving since 1996