34 years to go....

Image from Pinterest

Recently I was at the celebration of a nonagenarian!  Yes, not a birthday party but truly a celebration because not many people reach the age of 90.

I searched my memory for another person of the same age and I couldn't!!

What is it like to be 90?  If my Aunt Therese Fitzgerald is anyone to go by, then it must be wonderful. I watched her sitting so beautiful and poised at the main table and saw how she enjoyed all the family and friends surrounding her.  The love and energy in the room was tangible.  

I wonder what goes on in the mind of someone at that age.  I see others, some even younger, in the Nursing Home who are physically and mentally challenged.  Aunt Therese is still alert and shows a keen interest in everyone and everything.  Is this the secret?

The elegant Therese Fitzgerald

I don't know if I will even see 90 but if I do, I hope that I will have kept my mind intact and still be able to recognise all my loved ones.  I also hope that I will have the ageless beauty and serenity of Therese Fitzgerald

A long way to go......... 

Not sleepy! Not sleeping!

Image picked from WWW

I was unable to understand what George Carlin meant when he said this but now I think I get it.  

Anyway, this hasn't anything to do with my title except for the fact that it sort of ties in with what crossed my mind recently.

I was thinking about kids when you want them to go to bed and they always say, "not sleepy".  But if you keep them in bed, they eventually fall asleep within minutes.

And older people, you catch them with their eyes closed and then when they wake up, they say, "Nope, not sleeping".  

So the young don't believe they are ever sleepy (at bedtime) and the old don't believe that they were sleeping (or napping on the chair). 

It all seems funny somehow.   

Being ignored...

Much of my thoughts are about old people since I gravitate towards them more than I do to young babies or children.  Maybe that will change when I become a grandmother, I don't know.  

I am always curious when people visit and equally curious when they don't visit their 'loved' ones in hospitals or nursing homes or wherever they may be.  

Often I think it has to do with a history of events that had transpired and which, to coin a phrase, has not yet expired in their minds. 

Today people rarely visit the elderly because it is no longer 'cool' to be seen doing that.

When I project myself into the future, I wonder how I would feel if I was left alone without visits.  Would I be sad or upset?  I don't think I would.  If I am able to read, I'd be reading books.  If I am unable to read, then I'd listen to music or watch TV.  I hope that I would still be able to use a laptop as there is a never-ending stream of things to do online.  

I'm drawn back to wondering why old people are ignored.  Is it because the family no longer find any benefit available?  Could it be because they cannot bear to see a loved one in poor health?

The reality is that old people need attention.  When I lost my aunt early this year, part of my grief stemmed from the fact that I could have and should have done more for her.

There is no turning back.  Sometimes, there is no second chance.