The Best Day of My Life (so far)

Last night I went to an event called Arts through the Ages. It focused mostly on the elderly and intergenerational programming, and featured a panel of four young women who have different endeavors in art, writing and drama. I was particularly looking forward to hearing more about the writing program, being a writer myself, and also because I had JUST been talking with my mom and Rachael the day before about at some point doing a research study of the use of writing as a modality with individuals with dementia (and because I just did my whole case study on a huge writing project).

The Best Day of My Life (So Far) is a project created by a woman named Benita Cooper, an architect who was inspired to create this writing project after conversing with her grandmother and hearing all of her wonderful stories. In fact, she's working currently on writing a book filled with her grandmother's stories - something that I've always contemplated since my first grandma day in 2001 (*"grandma day" was created by me in 2001 after reading Tuesdays with Morrie, and becomming obsessed with the concept of spending one day a week with someone you love. I began going to grandma's after school every Tuesday. This lasted all through high school and college, although the days and times have changed through the years. Now they're on Saturdays, when I go over after work, eat dinner with her and then spend the night, and go to work from there on Sunday.) Anywho... Benita was so inspired by her conversations with her grandmother, that she decided to begin volunteering with seniors in the community. Now she has her weekly writing program at Philadelphia Senior Center every Thursday. The participants come together, and given a theme, put their memories to paper. The memories are shared through conversation, and through a blog www.thebestdayofmylifesofar.blogspot.com .

I found the entire thing extremely interesting. After working in recreation my whole life, and then completing my bachelor's in Therapeutic Recreation, I think it's amazing that someone so far removed from the health professions took the time and effort to actually begin a project like this one. I know she's looking for volunteers, so anyone interested can look her up on the blog, or on facebook (search "the best day of my life so far"). I'm hoping to be of assistance with some more clinical aspects of things, but really I'd love to help wherever I can. Hopefully I'll actually have time coming up to do so.