Villa residents visit Truman for Valentines

Little hands made heart-shaped cookies, decorated with frosting the color of Valentines. In preparation for Valentine's Day, residents of the Villa, at Mission at Castle Rock visited kindergartners at Truman Elementary School Feb. 11. They brought each child a goodie bag filled with candy. They also brought the heart-shaped cookies for the children to decorate and enjoy with them.

The cookies were for dessert, after the seniors joined the children for lunch. Their morning had been filled with conversation, reading and listening.

"We talked quite a bit," resident Louise Wesswick said to her new-found little friend, Kyler Grubb.

"He's very friendly and open; easy to work with," she said.

Some of the children took pride in the fact that they read to the adults, and the residents enjoyed getting read to.

"It's surprising how advanced they seem. It's not like when we went to kindergarten at all," resident Louise Gremonprez said.

"They really enjoyed reading to us. It was really nice."

The children really took to the residents, as did the residents to the children. The visit was planned because the residents enjoyed their trip to Truman last fall, giving books to the children and visiting with them so much they wanted to come back. The relationship between the residents and the children is important because the residents have a sense of purpose and usefulness. Plus, the children make them happy, which is evident by the smiles on their faces. A trip to get out of their apartments, and put a smile on their face. A trip well worth it.

"This was great," resident Leta Andrews said to kindergartner Kaylin Warner. "This was fun, wasn't it."

Kaylin nodded and gave Andrews a big hug in agreement.

The residents will be missed, until their next visit.