Portrait Teresa Garcia

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Um, my name's Teresa Garcia and I am 89 years old. And I reside at, uh, at the Christian health care center and Linden. I grew up in, well, let's see. I was born in New Mexico and I was there until the age of 16 at 16, our family moved to San Bernardino, California. 2004 came to Washington state. I just, I feel very fortunate that I have a very supportive and loving family. My son-in-law and I have a great relationship. We love talking a lot with each other. And of course with my daughter, I'm just Steven closer, you know, because she's my daughter and she always calls morning and evening. And, uh, and she comes in as much as they allow her to come, which has been only one day a week. My birthday was on May 30th. So I had a brother and sister-in-law from Missouri, came out for my birthday and a sister and niece from California. So we had a week with them and it was wonderful. I was 27 when I got married. The last three years of his life, he was in a nursing home and I would drive there every morning, every day for three years. And when he was gone, I remember that first week I was so exhausted. And then after that, it was like, There was this void. I thought, well now, real quick, what can I do? You know, like, I didn't have anything to do because I had, this was my job for three years after my husband passed, you know, that I started thinking more about myself. Uh, I lived with my daughter and son-in-law until. Uh, this January, when I got sick and had to come here, it was a little difficult, you know, at the beginning, I, when I first came, I had to be in quarantine for 14 days before I could be put in a room during those 14 tastes. I reflected a lot on a lot of things and, and I kept thinking, okay, I don't need to be feeling sorry for myself or, or upset because I have to come here. It's part of a gene and not a lot of people get to reach this stage. Right. And, uh, I should be. I feel blessed about it. So when I came to the room, I had a roommate and her name was Alice and she was like, so good. I mean, we had a lot in common. She, we talked a lot and she helped me a lot, you know, with settling in here because she had been here five years. It was wonderful, but I only had two months with her before she passed. So this is all part of aging, right? Almost everyone before they pass, have something to go through, right. That we would rather not, but it's part of life. So I think those are all good things that come in your life. You think they're at the time you think they're not. You know, something really bad and all, but there's always something to learn from a, and I'm very happy here. I've settled really well at first, it's hard, you know, to, uh, and like I tell everybody I have no complaints about the place. Everyone's very kind of re caregivers. Wonderful. The food is great. I mean, I've gained like eight pounds since I came here. And, um, the only thing it's not home, right. There was no, I mean, co home can't be replaced. Really? There's nothing that can replace home. I have these three cute, the cutest little great granddaughters. And that I brought that picture a picture of my daughter and son-in-law in there, but their family, those were two of the things that I liked. If I have a picture of my mom over there, my wedding, our wedding picked. And a picture of my grandson. I have pictures of my daughter cause, uh, uh, I only had two daughters and our youngest one passed away 20 years ago. So I have a picture of her. And of course, uh, I have two grandchildren in Sweden, uh, that are the. Children of the daughter that the younger daughter that passed away, we were in touch all the time through zoom and, uh, you know, messaging. And then the other things are just a couple of. Uh, reps that I put on my bed, you know, that I like one that my, my grandson then had already passed away. He had given me one of the Seahawks, he was a Seahawks fan and he got me interested in that team. One of my favorite hands is the one called, uh, what a day that will be. There is coming a day when no heartaches shall come no more clouds in the sky. No more tears to deny. All is peace forever. More on that happy golden shore. What a day glorious day that I will be. Yeah, I like that one a lot. And every time I feel down or something, I just read it. I have an ear and, um, yeah, the, the second word. There'll be no sorrow there. No more burdens to bear. No more sickness, no pain, no more partying over there. And forever. I will be with the one who died for me. What a day glorious day. That will be.