Thanks to the Elders Who Built My Church Community
Sometimes at my church in late October we sing the hymn, For All the Saints. At that service we remember the many dedicated and committed people who have died over the course of the year. For me, this service is always a time to think about long time members, most of them elders and many the age of my parents, who have accomplished much and made the world and community — not just our church — a better place.
This celebration of All Saints’ Day makes me think about getting older, how much life I have left to live (quite a few years, I hope), and whether, when the time comes and my life ends, I will look back and feel like I have lived my life with service to others.
My church is celebrating its centennial year, and right now it’s mid-May, not October. I just enjoyed another opportunity to listen and ponder the well-lived lives of elders (age-wise, not in the church governing sense), some departed, but a good many still alive and active. So many of these people, contributing time and talent, ensured during the first 75 years, that the church would endure for generations, making is possible for the rest of us to celebrate this 100th year. For three hours people shared stories and special memories about the history and lives lived in ways that affect change without rubbing their religion in the face of others. Though it was a long afternoon, hardly anyone left before the event ended.
Dementia Incidence Going Down? We’ll Just Have to Wait and See
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Is the incidence of dementia declining?
We really want this to be true, because it would mean a lot less suffering for our parents’ generation and in our own. It’s personal and as we age the threat of dementia feels closer and closer. Unfortunately, when we hear news about the incidence of dementia declining we need to remind ourselves that researchers are just beginning to examine this issue — right now we don’t really know.
In a study published in the May 8, 2012 issue of Neurology (abstract), researchers explained how they examined two cohorts of aging seniors in the Rotterdam Study. Beginning in 1990 researchers enrolled 10,994 men and women aged 55 and over and began following them up every two to three years, “aiming to investigate the prevalence and incidence of and risk factors for chronic diseases in the elderly.”
The researchers looked at two smaller groups of elderly participants, one group 1990 and a second similar group in 2000, and everyone in these smaller cohorts was free of dementia when they were initially examined. Read more »
Technology: It Even Transforms Elders
Visit Aging Online for a post about seniors and smartphones.
The other day, at a pre-Mother’s Day weekend event, I sat in a room with hundreds of seniors — mothers, grandmothers, dads, grandfathers — and guess what? A good many of them had smartphones.
I was amused to observe, that a fair number of people in that large room were texting or at least checking their smartphones for various reasons during the event — something I’ve not seen in a large senior gathering until now — although many of their children and grandchildren do it routinely.
I observed that many of the seniors worked hard to check their phones discretely, much more so than their children and grandchildren.
For me this is one of those sentinel moments that highlights the transforming 21st Century digital world. Our world is changing, it’s increasingly connected, and everyone, even some of our older moms and dads, is learning how to use a digital gadget.
I expect that many of these seniors use their phones to keep in touch with family and friends and a fair number of them were taking pictures. I’ll also posit that some of them have health apps that they consult on a regular basis.
Check out the Aging Online blog for some interesting statistics on seniors and smartphone use.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
My mom and me in late 1952.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I know you are a bit frustrated by a few health issues right now, but I hope you know how much we all admire and love you.
In all these years, as far as I can tell, you’ve never encountered a subject that you don’t want to learn more about. Sometimes when I think about you, I just lean back and marvel at your drive and intellectual capacity. Every time we talk, you tell me about what you’ve learned by working on your computer, sharing at the book club, attending a peace and justice meeting, listening to music at the Bach Festival, or working hard in a committee you serve on at one organization or another.
Or maybe I arrive and more plants are in the garden, so I know that you’ve been working out there.
Do you have any idea, over the years, just how many people you have registered to vote, all told? Hundreds, I bet. Of course, we all treasure the picture of you and President Obama (well he wasn’t quite the president at that point). But then you were one of the super-volunteers in the Shenandoah Valley , so active in politics and always willing to take on extra jobs. Read more »
Woodland Park Green House Walls are Rising – April 28, 2012
The walls continue to rise above the foundations at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.
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Finding and Wearing Protective Sunglasses
This is the pair of sunglasses that I was given at the hospital after my retinal surgery. They fit right over my regular glasses.
Whether we are talking about the eyes of our senior parents or our own aging adult child eyes, protection from the sun is critical for eye health. Urgent, in fact.
The solar shield sunglasses given to me after my eye surgery are comfortable and filter out a lot of the damaging glare and light. They fit right over my glasses when I am not wearing my contact lenses.
When I wear my contacts I use various pairs of sunglasses, but I’ve never been very careful about the UVA and UVB protection — some have it and others do not. Since my retinal surgery I’ve become more selective. Anything I can do to protect my eyes in the coming years, I plan to do.
I’ve discovered that UVA and UVB protection sunglasses come in all shapes, sizes, and prices. I’ve looked at them at Target, CVS, and Rite Aid. I’ve seen them at my local BJ’s and also at Nordstrom, but at department stores — where the focus is on fashion — one must read the labels carefully. Online sunglasses are easy to find, but read the fine print. Foster Grant makes lots of frames with good protection.
Read these resources to learn a bit more about eye and sun safety and choosing protective sunglasses. Read more »
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: an Entertaining Metaphor for Aging
Visit IMDB.com
The other night we went to see the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and boy, did we enjoy ourselves.
A group of British retirees, most seeking lower costs and a bit of adventure, ends up as the guests in a seedy, formerly grand hotel in Jaipur, India. In fact, the hotel is terrible. It’s not what they expect, but the endearing, entrepreneurial proprietor draws them in. As the movie zooms in on the characters’ personal stories we found ourselves gazing through familiar late-in-life prisms. Did I mention some of the fairly obnoxious adult children?
Marigold introduces a woman who was let go after training her own replacement, the parents who invested in their daughter’s start-up (yes, boomers everywhere are giving lots of money to their kids), and the woman who trusted her beloved husband who then left her in debt. We become acquainted with a retired attorney, drawn back to the place of a great love affair, and several others who just want to be less lonely. Because these are British characters, the frustrations tend to be understated — but frustrations, none the less. The Indian characters are just as engaging, fully developed, and far more exuberant.
Detached Retina: My Aging Eye, Part IV
Three weeks after the vitrectomy for a detached retina I see well out of my left eye. I mostly knew that after the first week of recovery, but other individuals with a detached retina may take much longer to know for sure. The concern about infection, less and less after that first week, kept me on edge for the first few weeks.
I’ll need to wear this for a bit longer.
The gas bubble gradually decreased in size after the first week. By the end of the second week it was barely visible, but I could detect it bouncing around in my eye. When the bubble started moving around a bit, at first I thought it was a tiny shadow or floater. When I called the surgeon, he reassured me that without any other symptoms I was just fine.
I gather that the bubble may still remain around and that my eye is still vulnerable because I have to wear the bracelet for a bit longer and I cannot fly for 30 days after the surgery. I’ll ask more about this.
Other restrictions include continuing to sleep on my right side as much as possible and never sleeping on my back until the doctor tells me that I can. I still use some eye drops, and I wear a huge pair of Solar Shield wrap-around sunglasses. (These sunglasses are so good, I may buy a second pair.) Moreover, I still cannot lift things — just about anything from the vacuum cleaner to my 5 pound weights to those much-loved planters, now overflowing in the sunroom and more than ready to be toted outside to the deck. A big thanks to my husband for all of the help. Read more »
Becoming A Grown-up Child
One day in April 2007 my husband and I were the adult kids in our families — we are the only adult children
— and the next day we became what we laughingly call “real grown-ups,” helping first one, then two, and increasingly all three of our parents. It’s time to give back, and we do so willingly and happily. However the process is not easy, and it is not free from anxiety and tension. Check out the As Our Parents Age About page to learn more about the mission of this blog.
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