From the first day I heard we were going to go to Lakesider I was a little uncomfortable with the whole situation.  My grandmother died almost four years ago now, and I didn't really want to revisit memories of her being ill and dying.  Since we did not even know what we would be doing with the people there, I had no idea how much time I would have to spend with them, and honestly, I was a little scared.  When we first arrived at the nursing home and walked in, I started feeling a little better about the whole situation.  For some reason I had imagined all the people would be with the same health problems that my grandmother had right before she died, and I had not even given a thought to that fact that the people are just simply older, not all of them are very sick.  So I started getting more relieved about the situation, and I was ready to do whatever I needed to do to make someone happy, instead of selfishly thinking of myself.  Then we were told that we would be working with people that have Alzheimer's disease.  My grandmother was physically sick, but her state of mind was always clear.  Having had no prior experience working with such cases, I felt that I was not prepared for this at all.  It turned out that for the last part of the celebration we had, I was talking with a very nice woman.  She was not from the Alzheimer's part of Lakeside, and I really think that that was important for me to talk to her.  I needed to speak with someone older the way I used to speak with my grandmother.  Honestly, some of the people I encountered there scared me very much.  The reason for that I think is because I am scared one day I will be dependent on someone else.  I am really scared that I will have to have someone supervise me at all times, that I will not have a sense of reality, and that I will not recognize those closest to me; I am just scared of getting old.  All in all, I think that my experience at Lakeside was positive.  I was able to see many different people come together to make some people's lives happier for a day.  It was great to be surrounded by people of all ages, all working towards the same goal.  It was more than just a celebration of the Native Americans; it was a celebration of life and people coming together.  I am thankful for this experience; it has made me think about a lot of things outside and also within myself.