I Did It My Way

I decided to start this blog with the lyrics of Frank Sinatra's Song: "I did it My Way".  Not just because the residents love Frank Sinatra and sing along as soon as I put the CD on, but also because there is a valuable lesson to learn here.  All of us want to know that we lived life "Our Way".  That we made mistakes, but that it was our own mistakes, that we experienced life without too many regrets and that we can say that we laughed, loved and lived to the fullest.

Just because your parents or grandparents have to move to a care centre or retirement village, does not mean that they should now stop doing things "Their Way" or stop living, loving and laughing.  Sometimes the fact that they might be frail or not mentally as sharp as they used to be, make us think that they cannot experience life to the fullest any more..  Sometimes we care so much for them and are so afraid that they aren't going to cope or that they will get hurt or fall, that we take some opportunities for experiencing life away from them without realising it.  

Here at the Ron Smith Care Centre, we want to try and help our residents to still do things "Their Way", by implementing Person Centred Care.  We are also starting the journey of the Eden Alternative Road to make our Centre a Home for the Elders (read more about it at Eden Alternative).  This is a long journey and we invite you to join us, support us, give advice and sometimes just laugh with us while we make memories together that will hopefully last a lifetime...

Frank Sinatra Lyrics

My Way Lyrics

[Recorded December 30, 1968, Hollywod]

And now, the end is here

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I'll say it clear

I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full

I traveled each and ev'ry highway

And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I've had a few

But then again, too few to mention

I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption

I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway

And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew

When I bit off more than I could chew

But through it all, when there was doubt

I ate it up and spit it out

I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I've loved, I've laughed and cried

I've had my fill, my share of losing

And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing

To think I did all that

And may I say, not in a shy way,

"Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way"

For what is a man, what has he got?

If not himself, then he has naught

To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels

The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

[instrumental]

Yes, it was my way 

*source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/