Visiting Elderly Ladies

I warned you that I might not do as well at this as I had envisioned. The whole idea behind having a blog is probably that you keep it updated fairly regularly. There is stuff happening everyday which warrants some thought I would say. Well it wasn't like I didn't know myself. The day will come when a person can probably speak and it will be typed somewhere remotely or even thought and then typed somewhere. Scary shit wouldn't you say?
Truthfully, there is always something somewhere or something that makes me think,I really should take the time to write these thoughts down. Why not do it then? Something else always pushes the time aside. But enough whining about what I can and can't get done.
Yesterday and today I visited with some older folks that are members of the church I attend here in Z-town. One of our pastors is away and I volunteered to help out by making these visits. A good step for me, because sometimes I say I'm going to do something and I actually just kind of let the idea fade away. This time I followed through. I visited 3 women. The youngest was 82. She remembered me from years ago when she was able to attend church. She asked about Ms K and the G-man. She knew that I had retired and asked all kinds of questions as to what I was doing now. I kept thinking to myself, I sincerely hope I can remember as much at that age. Sadly I know that I won't, because I have a hard time now remembering what I did earlier in the week. Ask me about the first of the month and it's all gone!!
Today I visited with a lady who is 101. She will be 102 the end of Dec. She is living in her own home, fixes her own meals and gets around quite well with her walker. She has lived in Z-town since age 9. She was not familiar with my name so I had to give her a background on where I grew up and such. She proceeded to tell me about her sons and grandchildren and great grandchildren. She had very strong opinions on how children are being raised today. Particularly troubling for her was the fact that the moms are working and not raising their children. They think somebody else is doing it and nobody is doing it. It bothered her a great deal. And another thing that irked her is that they(kids today) are not taught to save their money. They have to spend,spend, spend. That's why we are in the mess we are in! What could I say? She has a point about the money. The mothers working, well......that's another issue. I did so enjoy listening to her and relating some of her history. I asked her what invention or change she thought had influenced or changed the world in her lifetime and she thought it was electricity. Again, sharp as a tack. Limited vision but surprisingly good hearing. But then I have a loud voice so that helps.
And finally lady # 3 I visited at the nursing home. She it turns out is 96. Is blind but again, decent hearing. She told me about her daughter and grandchildren. We talked about the president having visited our town and the excitement that brought. Again, had to give a personal history. She, it turns out, is of German heritage as am I so that was nice. Of course in all visits, they related their health histories but not to the extreme. This last lady said that it was hard sometimes to face each day because all those she knew have died. That kind of made me feel sad. She too had ideas on kids today but not quite as strong as the previous.She was definitely against the war and thought there were just too many people in the world and that we lived too long. That comment prompted the previous on her friends and family dying and having few left. She felt the change that was significant was the technology. Because of that, the post offices will close! Needless to say in all these cases the time went quickly. My oh my, it was a pleasure to listen to them.
With these visits then, one can be reflective. Have I lived a decent life? Have I made my contributions? When I am that age, will I be up on current affairs? Will I still be with it? Will I be able to carry on a decent conversation? Of course we can't see into the future. We just have to do the best we can right now and try to store those memories so they can be told again...someday. I'm also banking on the fact that I have friends and family that will visit me and remember to keep me a part of the human race. My goal with all of this is to visit these ladies again and to keep doing puzzles and such to keep my mind sharp. The history these ladies had and told was amazing. We should all be so blessed to have it together that long. I'm banking on it!! WL