Holidays at the Nursery
Posted by irene | Filed under Uncategorized
A special look at what the holidays are like for the children at Crisis Nursery as seen through the eyes of long time staff member
~Pat Beasley
For me the holidays are a special time of year. I am coming upon my 29th holiday season with Crisis Nursery and throughout the years, I have known so many extraordinary children and memorable moments.
The holiday season is an especially hard time for many of the children who come to us. Some children think they were sent to the Shelter because they were bad. Some children question if Santa will be able to find them on Christmas Day. And some children’s lives are in such chaos that they do not know what it feels like to celebrate and experience the joy of the season.
One memory I have is of Johnny, a little four year old boy. He came to our Shelter two days before Thanksgiving in 1989. At that time, I did a lot of the cooking for the Shelter, that night I made pies for dessert. I asked Johnny if he would like whipped cream on his pie. He became hysterical and pleaded with me to not give him whipped cream. When I finally got him to calm down, Johnny told me his father used to “put the white stuff in his nose.” Later I found out his father was arrested for drug possession and Johnny was present at the time of his arrest. That was a tough thing for me to hear.
I’m grateful that not all the memories I have at Crisis Nursery are that shocking. A few years ago, five year old Kyle came to our Shelter. All he wanted for Christmas was a guitar. Kyle saw a man on tv who played the guitar and liked how all the people clapped and cheered after he played a song. He wanted to be just like that man. One of our volunteers had an old guitar, wrapped it up and gave it to Kyle on Christmas Day. He loved it so much that he slept with it for a week. When Kyle left, he took his guitar with him.
Throughout the years, thousands of children have passed through our doors, and I have a special place in my heart for each and every one of them.
Comments are closed.
