Checkers at Lyngblomsten
Playing checkers at Lyngblomsten was probably the most challenging activity I have participated in so far at the organization. There were originally two men that I was scheduled to play with, however one of them did not attend. When I sat down I introduced myself to the man that I would be playing checkers with. In the beginning, and throughout the game I could not tell if he really wanted to be playing. This made me feel somewhat awkward, because I began to wonder if he was doing this for my benefit and would have preferred to watch tv. I didn't know what to do however, so I just kept playing and talking with him. During this game I had to excercise some patience, the man was somewhat slow to respond to me in conversation, and he took a great deal of time between his moves. During our game several staff people came over to talk to us, and said that this was the first time they had seen this man engaged in an activity for a long time. they seemed to think what was happening was quite positive and this made me feel better. Later his wife came and spoke with us briefly. She told us that they would soon be celebrating their sixty fifth wedding anniversary. I thought this was great, especially in light of contemporary marriage being quite devalued. His wife was also excited about his particiaption in the game, so in the end I felt that it had been a positive experience. We were not able to finish our game, as the table we were playing on was reserved for residents to eat lunch at a specific time. However I told him that I hoped we would be able to play again, he said he thought we should as well.