Last week Mr. Donald Keene asked about a couple who can’t afford good institutional care but doesn’t want to force either one into the role of caretaker for a long terminal illness. What are the options for a peaceful end of life experience for both?
Some private homes are ill-suited for sick elderly people.
Old love is marvelous, uncommon and mostly hidden, and it is also socially beneficial. In modern societies old love saves public expense, gives compassionate care, and shows a truly praiseworthy sacrifice.
John had both hands on the wheel as he drove uphill around a curve. Iris was sitting beside him and, as was her wont, had managed to release her seat belt some miles back. Without warning she opened her car door and plunged out into the dark night. John was frantic. He stopped the car and ran out looking for his wife of over 40 years.
Photo by Pierre Amerlynck, Belgium
Old love is subtle, hidden and perhaps uncommon, but it is nonetheless a marvelous and beautiful thing that should be celebrated more widely and deeply than it now is. Continue reading
A guest post by F. Nielson
If you think keeping in shape is only for the young you should think again. It is not uncommon for people to live for 20 or more years after retirement, so why not spend that time keeping active and maintaining good health. No longer are retirees expected to sit on their porches and whittle away the afternoons. Retirement has become for many an opportunity to try new things and take on adventures they were unable to pursue during their working years. One way to start is to stay active through regular exercise.
Old people don’t like responsibility, but we fear its loss. Those ideas may seem disrespectful, yet once articulated, they’re often obvious. Responsibility has been on my mind lately—I’m liking it less and less. Dogs can sleep for hours, day or night, with no guilt.
Old-age gurus, like Cicero, about whom I wrote so admiringly a few weeks ago, encourage seniors to fight against inevitable decline and loss of responsibility. Cicero captured my mood then, but now, just a few weeks later, his message resonates like cheerleaders near the end of a game—a little beside the point.
Today’s post is a set of black and white photographs showing moments in life that were captured with a camera.
Let there be song. Continue reading
Grandparents usually adore grandchildren. The old idea—that grandchildren are wonderful because we enjoy them, spoil them, then send them home to their parents—is surely true, yet the appreciation of grandchildren goes beyond that. Continue reading
I needed to go to Walmart yesterday and I headed out to the truck. In the driveway I noticed a stranger in shorts, sneakers and a T-Shirt with the word, BREATHE, across the front. He was trim and fit.
“I am Buddha,” he said, smiling.
In my mid sixties I let a friend talk me into motorcycling, which I had not done since my twenties. I bought a used Honda Nighthawk and got a driving permit from the Georgia Department of Driver Services. We rode around the area for a couple of months, and it seemed as if the old handling skills and road savvy were coming back. So I scheduled and took the necessary driving test, and I thoroughly flunked it.
Under the watchful eye of a test administrator, applicants must ride a set of maneuvers on a closed, tightly laid out course. Limping home with a wounded ego, I had to relate the failure to my family and friends, and more importantly, I had to devise a strategy to overcome the defeat.