My mother was almost 96, when she died, spending her last days in hospice at a Retirement Community that she considered to be her home. My 89 year old father died at the hospital and was planning to return home that afternoon or the next day....
Hearing about Jimmy Carter got me thinking about my parents and how they spent their last days... it is an odd thing to think about but I suppose it is also normal after one passes the age of 70, 75, or 80. I am currently 75. My sister is 4 years older than me, my brother is 8 years younger. Not sure what they are thinking as we seldom communicate.
We were closer when our parents were alive, so I am sure they held us together from the standpoint of not wanting to disappoint them. So, now it no longer matters.
What we all have in common is GETTING OLDER but what we do not have in common is how we deal with GETTING OLDER.
My second cousin Butch was like Jimmy Carter, when his time came and hospice was there, he was a peace with the inevitability of his impending death. I went to see him while he was in hospice and he took me outside and showed me the new plants he was growing, giving off no signs at all to me that he was dying. A few days after that visit he died.
When we are young and younger, we don't really think about death or the fact that we are getting older and sometimes many years pass until that reality slaps us in the face.
I 60 years of age I got my first slap with a heart attack and cancer. At 74 years of age, I got my second slap when I had L2-L3-L4-L5-S1 fused together and just about had to learn to walk again. Seven months later, I was moving a bed into our spare room and trying to move that large mattress down the hallway took every bit of strength that I had. I also realized that much of the strength in my shoulders and upper arms that I thought I still had, I no longer had... not sure if that was a slap or not but it sure was a wake up call.
I am walking a mile and riding a bike for 2 miles, three times a week now and while that might help my heart, digestion, and sleep, it does not build muscle strength. BTW, when the warm weather returnes in about a month, I will walk 5/6 times a week outside and not inside at our local community center.
Eating habits also change as one gets older which in my case I started at age 40 when I quit smoking and drinking alcohol. I also stopped eating red meat, fried foods, and lots of desserts. Focused on veges, fruits, fish, chicken, turkey, and beans. My total cholesterol both good and bad is 84 which is rather remarkable.
I don't mind losing my hair. I don't mind putting on a little extra weight. I don't mind not being as physical as I used to be. I understand that is all part of the aging process. What I mind is how fast it is happening once the process started at 60. I thought I would be more physical a lot longer... especially when we went to Myrtle Beach because I like to bodysurf.
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