|
 So, I get into
this discussion the other day about something we will all have to
come to grips with sooner or later. I’m talking about the ‘home’.
You know, the place where you put your parents or where your kids
put you when the time comes. Saints preserve us all. If there was
ever an industry that needed to hire a first class public
relations company to put a new spin on their name, this is it. Any
word you can think of that has the letters…H-O-M-E in it just will
not do under any circumstances. Nursing home, retirement home,
independent living home, assisted living home…..you can’t fool
anyone using those four letters. No one wants to go or be put into
the HOME.
It’s as simple as that. I wish I could
think of some clever moniker to describe a place where you go and
live when you get too old to take care of yourself. For some
reason, the name just scares the fool out of all of us. The old
don’t want to go and the young don’t want to send anyone, but what
else can we do?
We all have friends, relatives and
others who have become incapacitated in some form or fashion and
often times there isn’t anyone able to take care of them on a
daily or hourly basis It’s a fact of life…we’re living longer and
will most likely need to relocate to someplace that keeps us safe
and healthy. Let’s look at the advantages of moving into one of
these facilities. No yard work….. There’s a plus for all of us. No
matter who you are. You can give up that mower, rake and edger
since you don’t have to impress the neighbors any longer. No
leaves to rake, no snow to shovel. When you think of it, yards are
kind of stupid projects anyway aren’t they? You fertilize your
place, then it grows and you curse because you have to mow more
often.
Tell me, does this make sense? Second
advantage……meals on time. You get all of your meals cooked for
you. Not only that but you don’t have to do the dishes. Is this a
deal or what? No more looking into the pantry for something to eat
or trying to thaw out a TV dinner in the old microwave. If you
think about it, I bet their meals are probably better for you
anyway, compared to our regular diets of pizza and other major
junk foods. Third thing to consider, the place is most likely
cleaner than where a lot of folks are living at the present time.
For example, I tend to look at things we buy as to how hard are
they to dust? Man, after so many years, less is better. All of
those ashtrays you collected over the past forty years are really
hard to keep clean aren’t they? Throw them away, give them away.
Give some of that stuff to someone who can actually use it. Don’t
save it.
Move on to the next phase in your life
and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Enjoy your days and stop
complaining about what was and focus on what can be. Make some new
friends, even at the retirement, rest or nursing home…lots of
folks there need friends too. Your kids need you, my kids need me.
Go back and look at your life and see what period of time you
think you were the happiest…. now, if you were happy then…you can
be happy now. The worst thing you can possibly do is to give up
and think that your life is worthless or over. Keep on going.
Write a letter to someone. The President of The United States
would like to hear from you. I’d like to hear from you. Your old
next-door neighbor would love to hear from you. Learn how to use
the computer. You mastered the art of using the remote for the
television didn’t you? Well, the computer isn’t that hard. There
are plenty of people, who will teach you, ask them. Life goes on
and you and I have got to go with it.
|
