Long Pity Party, help!!!

[Pyannyplayer]

Donna:

Keep in mind that the Area Agency on Aging will have ALL SORTS of information for you in order to help her - free or not. The Senior Center would be a nice place for her to go have lunch and make some friends; they also would have some activities for her that might help her WANT to get out and be with other people.

My MIL (who financially is doing really well at 88 years young!) has a senior companion come once a week who takes her to get her hair done, grocery shop, doctor, etc.; she has three ladies come every other week to clean for $50 a month (she has macular degeneration as well and can't hear very well either!). Since she's alone, she spends a little extra money on her food and has the Schwann's Man deliver once a month. She joined a water aerobics class and several other older ladies pick her up and they all have lunch after class. Her church has someone pick her up every Sunday for services as well as weekly Bible study, and, well, all WE do for her is have her over at least two nights a week for dinner. I feel like such a slacker, to be really honest! However, it's made us ALL so much happier. It may take some digging to find help for her, but it's there regardless of income and assets. We kid around about my MIL, BTW, that she has a busier social life than we EVER will! Our population is only about 15,000 - according to my husband, anyway - so we're not in a large city either.

I'd like to add to something that I believe FlyBye said about when WE are older and even maybe gone and people remember us:

I don't want to be remembered by my family for having a perfectly clean house (like THAT would ever happen) or for all the things I did out of obligation or whatever. I want my boys to remember things like, "My mom was so cool doing her first tri; I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I didn't know she could BIKE SO FAST! Did you see her pass that BUFF GUY?"; "My Mom goes to all my games and concerts and stuff and cheers for me. It's kind of embarassing, but she does it anyway", or "My Mom always spent time doing stuff with us. Remember the time we...?" THAT'S what I want them to remember (these are actual quotes, BTW, from my TEENAGE BOYS!!).

Okay, off my soapbox. If you need any help finding information or whatever, let us know. We're all here to help you. Big hugs for you, too. I know it's tough, but we'll help any way we can.

Lorie

[Tuckervill]

I don't want to be remembered by my family for having a perfectly clean house (like THAT would ever happen) or for all the things I did out of obligation or whatever. I want my boys to remember things like, "My mom was so cool doing her first tri; I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I didn't know she could BIKE SO FAST! Did you see her pass that BUFF GUY?"; "My Mom goes to all my games and concerts and stuff and cheers for me. It's kind of embarassing, but she does it anyway", or "My Mom always spent time doing stuff with us. Remember the time we...?" THAT'S what I want them to remember (these are actual quotes, BTW, from my TEENAGE BOYS!!)

YEAH, BABY!

My dad is 73 this year, and we still go camping and canoing together with my kids, who are now grown and grew up doing it. They have great memories of my dad from when they were children (as do I--see my avatar), and they have great memories of him as adults. I want to be like that for my grandchildren, too.

He has his moments that we all groan about, but they're outnumbered by the happy ones. My mom, on the other hand, causes more groans than joy, and then wonders why we don't want to go see her?

Who would I much rather be like? My dad, of course.

Karen