When I left for college one of my biggest concerns was that I wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with my grandmother. She lives in a nursing home, and being her only granddaughter, she would love my weekly visits. Her other grandson lives far away, and my parents have busy work schedules, so we developed a special bond.
Instead of being able to visit her in the home regularly, I call her every week. But I can tell she is still lonely for actual physical contact. So I did some research and found a website called Rentafriend.com. On Rentafriend.com you can rent a person for whatever you may need. Perfect I thought! I can rent a “granddaughter” to spend some time with my grandmother in the nursing home. On Rentafriend.com each friend for hire has a complete profile with different activities they are good at. I can find someone who lives in the same area as the nursing home and who likes to play the same card games as my grandmother. I can be confident that whomever I hire to be a stand in granddaughter or grandson is going to do a good job, not like some high school kid who is just trying to fill some community service credits.
I feel a responsibility as a granddaughter to be there for my grandmother. To make sure she has some companionship, someone to share her stories with. I still intend to call her as often as possible and visit whenever I have school breaks. But with the help of Rentafriend.com I know I can hire someone I trust to spend some quality one on one time with her in my absence.