Lenbrook

Remember Aesop's fable "The Lion and the Mouse"? The one where a huge lion catches a tiny mouse and is ready to swallow him but the mouse very convincingly pleads for his life.

The mouse says (I'm paraphrasing...), "Please let me go. You never know when I might be able to help you one day, and I will." Amused at the thought of the tiny mouse ever being able to help him, the lion lets him go.

Lenbrook will be having its first Chaplain Intern from the Candler School of Theology this summer. My days have been absorbed with completing the proverbial check list:

(Gracie is pictured right in the picture above.)

This month is my last as President of the Lenbrook Residents Association. So let’s pretend this is an exit interview and you ask me, “What have you learned this past year?"

I have learned many things: The first is that time is flying. I inhaled in June 2015, I exhaled and now it is June 2016! But what a wonderful and enriching year it has been! 

Did you know there are over 50 different kinds of nuts? With so many choices, how do you know which nuts to include in your diet, how to include them and how often? 

First, I'll outline the most common nuts, the main nut categories, and easy ways to include them in your diet. Then I'll let you decide which ones are right for you!

Let’s start by clearing up exactly what a nut is: a fruit composed of a hard shell and seed, which is generally edible. 

One of our residents made my day recently when he said, "It's clear you really love this community." We were at one of the informal "Community Chat" meetings we hold weekly with a small group of residents, and he'd seen me pick up a stray piece of paper off the carpet ... a simple act that prompted a sincere compliment.

He affirmed my belief that good resident service really is in the little things that we demonstrate each day as much as it is in the big things.

I'd like for you to meet a few of the people that live at Lenbrook:

As the wave of aging baby boomers enters the market for senior living (10,000 turn age 65 every day), these "younger" older adults are revolutionizing the traditional views of retirement and reshaping the language used in the senior living field.

Sometimes the lines can get blurred between being a good friend and neighbor and becoming a caregiver. We all want to help out those we care about.  We offer to bring over a dish when someone is feeling ill, or we offer a ride to an appointment for someone who doesn’t drive.

By the time someone reaches their 80’s and 90’s, they have seen a lot of life. The ups and the downs. The good and the bad. Elders’ life experiences truly cover the full spectrum. How do souls survive and thrive such a varied terrain?

It's been my observation that for souls to weather this thing we call life, they need to be rooted and grounded in relationships. In particular, relationships with:

This school year we partnered with Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School and, through their work study program, we welcomed four interns to our campus. Each student works one full day a week plus a rotating Monday. It's a delightful and beneficial experience for both sides -- the students share their fresh perspectives and technology proficiency with us and our associates share their business knowledge and job skills with them.