MONKEYMANIA

MonkeyMania:  It's contagious.  

I have a cool friend.  She lives in Florida,  She's gotten a group of women in Florida hooked on makin monkeys.  

What cute socks!  And the pom pom eyes are so cute!

Back in California, here we are:

Bringing smiles to the kids at Rady's Children's Hospital on Thanksgiving.

           

This monkey got away.  What a rascal!

Handing over our monkeys to the nurse in the children's ward.  She later reported that one monkey went to a little six year old who carried it with her everywhere, and one went to a little toddler girl.
The nurses love passing out monkeys.  Bella loves the monkeys too.  She hugs each one before we give them away.  "Every stitch is stitched with love", was her little observation as she stitched away.

A happy send off!  Saying goodbye to these monkeys going to a woman's shelter.  Lots of hugs coming their way for sure.

Monkeymania......it's just the best.

NOT ENOUGH MONKEYS.........

Monica, one of my darling daughter in laws, called me,  "Marcia, the girls at church want to make sock monkeys.  Can you help?"

SOCK MONKEYS.  Music to my ears.   

We got the socks ready to roll, and Monica reported back that the girls had a lot of fun making the monkeys.  

Naturally.    These are monkeys we're talkin about. 

Little did we know that these monkeys would find an unexpected home……..

Fast forward two  months.

Our little Gramma Dot…. age 88, in the later stages of dimentia. A very sweet and cute lady, but also, I'm sorry to say,  disobedient.  Yes.  Disobedient.  When you live in a dimentia center, you don't have many rules to follow or decisions to make.   You can decide if you want to attend the painting class, bingo or watch tv, but all of the important things are taken care of for you.  Except for one thing.  You can choose to walk with your walker or not.  Gramma Dot made a "bad choice" …...therefore on October 1, she fell and couldn't get up.  A broken hip.

Gramma found herself in a nursing home for rehabilitation.  This was a strange, new place, she couldn't get out of bed, she was in some pain.  Poor Gramma.

Monica to the rescue:  a visit and a monkey.

Gramma LOVED her little monkey.  It entertained her and kept her company.  She hugged it, kissed it  and tucked it under the covers.  If anyone turned on the music, her monkey danced!  That little nameless monkey was a very dear friend, and companion. 

The nurses began noticing that the other elderly patients would attempt to steal that monkey at meal time or when she wasn't looking.  The nursing staff, definitely on Gramma's side, remained on the lookout to make sure that she kept her monkey.  But it became crystal clear to everyone that a monkey was a popular item.  

When Monica learned of the Monkeymania that was occurring in the nursing home, she headed right over with her basket of monkeys.  The nurses took her around to the terminal patients who hugged each monkey close and smiled.  

Who knew?  Our hearts have been warmed and enlarged by monkey love, and once again we realize………..

 There just aren't enough monkeys to go around in this world…….