Follow this link for the post on the beginning of this funeral. But to summarise it had not gone to plan so far, from the lady having dementia, which was exacerbated by the funeral of her husband to the point where she had trouble understanding and making decisions all the way to the mess with the coffin at the start of the funeral service. Overall it had been a long day for everyone.
I was driving the nice lady with dementia and her sister who was a sister, the funeral now over our destination was Rookwood. The drive itself was nice enough, the three of us in the car were having fun looking at the strange way the hearse was going to avoid an accident on the highway. By the time we were pulling up to the gates of Rookwood it had been a long drive and I was a little tired, thinking of how I still had to take them home later.
Next to the gates is a nice cafe with big signs, you have to pass it to enter the cemetery. As we drove past the old lady with dementia exclaimed "oh! A coffee shop, I think I'll have a coffee after the service" to which her sister agreed. I did not want to stop at the cafe, not at all. All I wanted was to end the day and go home, not sit and wait in the cold at some cafe while they had coffee for who knows how long.
The final service was over and it was time to go home. I knew the nice old lady with dementia would have forgotten about the coffee and her sister was not super set on a coffee. So I thought I would try something. As we exited the cemetery and were about to pass the cafe I informed them that there were some famous peoples graves just to the side. They just so happened to be on the opposite side to the cafe. The two ladies looked for the famous graves, missing the cafe. Shortly before we got back to her home the nice lady with dementia said how she was glad to get home soon as she really felt like a coffee now.
Yes, I basically said "look over there" and distracted a lovely old lady and exploited her dementia to prevent her from getting coffee.
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It was a kindness and a very creative way to distract them. You must have experience with children! I love the bog! Keep it coming. I wish I could go to your funeral home open house. I will be missing it here in america. What a lovely way to get your community involved. Cheers!
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