Aint Getting Any Younger…

Oh, my. America is getting old. All of us “kids” are in our fifty’s and sixty’s now, even Mick and Harrison and Demi and Cher.  Our children are entering middle age, filling the spot where we used to be. And our parents? Well, they have become impossibly old! Suddenly, we’re kind of old, and they’re antiques. Not only that, but us kids with our sore hips and bad knees are having to step in and take care of them. Something I never thought of myself doing. Something I never thought of my parents needing.

Didn’t we just raise our kids? I can still hear the door swing shut after the last one left home. The echo is still in the hall. Yet, an urgent knock at the door hung on the shirt tail of the echo merely a minute or two behind. A Currier dumped the situation in our laps before we even had time to catch our breath. Look out. When it happens, it happens fast.

I remember the day the torch was passed from my mother to myself. I knew it was happening even though she had no idea. She was struggling to regain consciousness which made it pretty difficult for her to keep up on anything else going on. With him, it’s been a struggle. Once the head of the household, always the head of the household. It never ceases to amaze us how tightly he clutches his shield and sword. We step around him carefully, fitting suggestions and advise into every nook and cranny of our conversations, ducking and diving to avoid a be-heading. It must be so difficult to step down after all these years.

Yet it is happening everywhere. The great aging of America. So I arrogantly demand of my adult children; don’t ever let me…if I ever end up like…when I’m in that condition…if I’m ever in that condition…

What? What would I have them do differently than we are doing for our parents now? And why do I feel above all problems associated with aging? Oh, I can accept getting old- it’s just the problems associated with getting old that I cannot accept. I will not end up like, well, you know.

There is no solution, but there are many lessons to be learned. I hope I can accept it all graciously and be grateful for every good part of every day, even as they become few and far between. I hope the memories are only the good ones. I also hope that I do everything for my parents now that I would like to have done for me. It’s all part of the pay it forward plan, because let’s face it – doing our part now will determine how it will be done for us later.

Yes, even hard rocking Mick is headed for a rocker of a different kind!

Later,

Mary Ann