Christmas Carols, Coloring, Coffee, and Conversation

With the last few weeks of the semester coming very quickly at the University of Kentucky, 

I have been under so much stress with finals and last minute assignments. 

Fortunately, I had time to take out of my day to relieve this stress by 

volunteering with my best friends. At my visit to Best Friends Day Center, we had our four C’s: 

Christmas carols, coloring, coffee, and conversations.

Picture of people sings songs
Found from:
http://www.merrychristmascardsgreetingsimages.com/christmas-carols-merry-christmas-song/

When I walked in to start my day as a volunteer, I could not help but hear the sweet melody of Christmas carols filling the air. The best part about hearing these awesome songs was the fact that all the participants of Best Friends were singing the songs loud and proud. They were laughing and dancing to the beats of Jingle Bells and many others songs coming out of the radio. Being able to witness this made me have no other choice but to join them. This was one of the best experiences I have had with the members of Best Friends since I have begun volunteering there. Seeing all the smiling faces, happy spirits, and being apart of that joyful time so early in the morning just because of a few old Christmas carols was such an amazing experience for me. Besides dancing and singing to Christmas carols, we got the chance to make beautiful pictures with our coloring skills.

After the happiness calmed down, we all took our seats and picked a picture to color. I do not know about you all but I love to color. My Best Friends love to color as well. Picking out the specific picture they wanted and which colors they wanted to use put huge smiles on their faces. It was such a good time to see how happy they were to do such a simple task as choosing a picture and coloring it.

Picture of an elderly women coloring a picture
Found from: https://www.ourparents.com/california/emeryville/bayside_park_assisted_living

Being able to spend this time with them coloring made them happy, and it also gave me a stress reliever. I was so grateful to just sit and hang out with the members of Best Friends Day Center making them and myself happy. While we finished up our coloring projects, cups of coffee were given to participants. When this was done, we had time to sit and converse.

Coffee and conversations were the most soothing parts of my day at Best Friends Day Center.

Picture of elderly drinking coffee and talking
Found from:https://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/serious_conversation.html 

It was a time for me to get familiar with the members of Best Friends for one last time. We talked about their lives in school and their families. As they sipped on their coffee, many of the members got extremely personal with their stories. One of the members in particular told me about how she lived through Adolf Hitler’s time. She also explained how she used to hide Jews to keep them safe. Just like this lady, all of the members have unique stories from being born in a different country or going through college at the University of Kentucky in their time. Hearing these stories made me feel so good just knowing that I was displaying the Best Friends approach to care by truly being the members best friend.

This trip I took to Best Friends Day Center gave me an abundance of joy. More important than myself, it gave the members of Best Friends Day Center indescribable joy that was written all over their faces. I was extremely happy to have the time to volunteer, have fun, and slow down time with my best friends during the fast paced, chaotic time in my life.

Thank you for reading. Keep looking forward for more posts.