caring for elderly parents
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A new way to go on
“It is impossible to go on as you were before, so you must go on as you never have.” ~Cheryl Strayed Whether we’re talking about a death, a major illness, a job loss, relocation, divorce, retirement, or any other major change, we have to find a new way “to go on,” as author Cheryl Strayed reminds us. During the last years of my widowed mother’s life, I had to manage everything from her medical appointments to her daily routines while she suffered a memory loss disease. Our lifelong roles as mother and daughter were thrown into reverse. For a long time, I struggled emotionally with the profound shift in our…
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The road ahead
“People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it. Better yet, build it. Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the street you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell with more. I want better.” ~Ray Bradbury, Beyond 1984: The People Machines As we age, we map out the course of our own future. We plan for retirement and organize our personal finances. We might start thinking about who will care for us if or when our health declines. At the same time, we need to consider the…
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Helping Your Aging Parents: “Moving Mom”
“There are only four kind of people in the world. Those who have been caregivers. Those who are currently caregivers. Those who will be caregivers, and those who will need a caregiver.” ~Rosalyn Carter The decision to move an elderly parent to a nursing home or an assisted living residence is never easy. I wrote about the experience with my own mother for Metro Parent magazine’s Guide to Helping Your Aging Parents. You can read it here. Photo above: My mother dressed for her senior prom in the 1940s.
