Cross Keys Village and Garden Spot Village
It was a long night of driving to get from Jersey to PA, but an eventful day is worth the ride. Our first stop is Cross Keys Village, their team (under Jennifer Holcomb’s leadership) has done a phenomenal job integrating iN2L into their culture, their dementia programming, in general, is as good as anywhere in the country.
I have been encouraging communities to enlist residents with “character” for these journeys, and Cross Keys came through big time! We had a retired trucker, Ron, and a long-time farmer and tractor aficionado, Dave. Ron climbed into the front seat, and before I got the van turned on, I knew this man was trouble – in the best kind of way. He had stories and stories to tell, probably the first time we may have to do a LOT of editing, as he had some pretty good tales of what it was like in the 70s and 80s, the heyday of CB radios, and some of the “escapes” to be found. I honestly don’t think Ron participated in a lot of these shenanigans, but he knew what was going on. The iN2L editing team and I may be at odds with this one, as I want to leave some good jokes in!
Then off to Garden Spot Village, a beautiful and innovative community in the middle of Amish country. They are forward-thinking, both from a technology and a cultural standpoint, integrating the look and feel of the outside community into their community. So, off we went to cruise and croon, this time Amish style! Yep, we took the cameras from our van and strapped them onto the roof of the horse and buggy. The ride was very cool; we had a few props to look the part, but we didn’t want to be in any way disrespectful of this magnificent culture. It was an honor to ride in the buggy with June and Lou. June, in particular, was full of spunk! What a trip this is turning out to be!
Melody, you were awesome both in planning the party but also planning the crooning in the buggy – thank you!
