I’ve befriended a woman called Joan at our shared accommodation. We spend a lot of time together in the recreation room. She is a sleepy woman but I like to think that I keep her entertained. The first day she came to our shared specialist disability support accommodation, I could tell just how sad she was. She really struggled with the change and felt like she had her freedom taken away from her. I think it took her about two months to really accept that she was here to stay. I think I played a big part in her being able to adjust and start enjoying her time here.
I really like learning about Joan. She has such a varied and interesting life. She grew up in New South Wales in a poor and big family. She spent years trying to make ends meet and learn enough in school to leave and get a job at fourteen. This is the complete opposite of my childhood. My family was well off and I went to school and then university. I never knew anyone who had a life like Joan’s. Life turned around for Joan when she met Ken at sixteen. He was quite literally the boy next door. He moved in with his older sister and three brothers who had just been taken out of an orphanage by their sister. Ken’s family was even poorer than Joan’s. I was shocked to hear that. Joan and her husband Ken quickly became fond of each other and married when they turned nineteen. They lived together for sixty years until he passed away.
That’s where the story brings us. Two opposite people from different worlds ended up at the same community nursing centre in the Adelaide area. It really doesn’t matter how rich you are when you get old. In the end, we all end up in the same place. I hope to make this easier for Joan.