Reflections on Aging
I see a change in my life in the next few years. Things are going downhill for Grandma. She rarely leaves her chair except for her beauty shop visit once a week and for the doctor visits. Of course, with her lack of activity she experiences pain in her joints when she does get up. She is never warm and keeps her room so hot that it makes a person nauseous to walk in there.
Having always been a critical person, she has not slowed down with that at all. It has accelerated since now nothing tastes good, she doesn't feel well and her system is slowing down in every area.
She spends much time trying to keep her blood pressure, pulse, weight and bowels regulated. Actually, that is pretty much the extent of her day.
The TV stays on most of the time but she is usually sleeping except for the times that I bring food up.
Every morning I bring her up a pot of coffee, a fried egg, bisquit & butter and some jelly. Some mornings I fix gravy since that is her favorite. At lunch, I usually just let her eat whatever she wants out of her little refrigerator. For supper, she gets whatever I have cooked and usually, I didn't cook it quite good enough. It is either too tough, not done, or some other complaint. I have quit trying to please since Mike is well-pleased and she is dealing with the demise of her taste buds and some problems with her teeth.
This morning, I had to Spray and Wash the front of one blouse of hers because she had spilled mustard all over the front.
I find little bits of rolled up, dirty pieces of toilet paper in the bathroom, messes around the commode with the toilet brush which I detest. Those things are NASTY!!! I would much rather clean the toilet with my hand so I can get it REAL clean. My hands are washable!!!
We had to get a new coffee maker recently since she had spilled water all down in the old one and it quit working. The new one is a little more modern and she had a hard time trying to get it figured out. She thought I should take it back. I told her I would just take it downstairs and bring it up to her each morning. That has worked well.
I'm sure things will get worse in the future. I just had to think about it this morning, as I was cleaning the front of that blouse that my life seems like it is going backwards. After those years of poopy diapers and spills and messes, now we are reverting back to SOME of those things again.
One thing we have figured out. WE ARE SIXTY YEARS OLD!!! The days of listening to Grandma for advice(even though it was not asked for) are quickly leaving us. We have already made those decisions ourselves.
I couldn't help but be amused when I realized that we, too, will be eighty, should the Lord tarry His coming. AND the world will have passed us by too. And that will be a good thing. It would not be good for our children if the world stayed static!
I was thinking about the people that came over to settle this country. It was years that each generation could have passed down valuable information about survival! Just as the Bible has prophesied, knowledge has increased at such a rate of speed now that the advice I would have to give to my children would be laughable. I'm sure their world will be much more technological than we have now.
BUT the only thing I will have to give my children is a Spiritual heritage. That is something that I can continue to grow in until death. I can continue to worship and praise the God of creation. I can try my own faith and share that with my children. It is my job to continue on this journey, full of faith and a desire for more of God's will so that I can share that until death.
I want my life and my death to be an encouragement to others in the faith!!!
These will be verses that I can cling to for the future:
II Corinthians 12: 9-10
"...My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong."
Having always been a critical person, she has not slowed down with that at all. It has accelerated since now nothing tastes good, she doesn't feel well and her system is slowing down in every area.
She spends much time trying to keep her blood pressure, pulse, weight and bowels regulated. Actually, that is pretty much the extent of her day.
The TV stays on most of the time but she is usually sleeping except for the times that I bring food up.
Every morning I bring her up a pot of coffee, a fried egg, bisquit & butter and some jelly. Some mornings I fix gravy since that is her favorite. At lunch, I usually just let her eat whatever she wants out of her little refrigerator. For supper, she gets whatever I have cooked and usually, I didn't cook it quite good enough. It is either too tough, not done, or some other complaint. I have quit trying to please since Mike is well-pleased and she is dealing with the demise of her taste buds and some problems with her teeth.
This morning, I had to Spray and Wash the front of one blouse of hers because she had spilled mustard all over the front.
I find little bits of rolled up, dirty pieces of toilet paper in the bathroom, messes around the commode with the toilet brush which I detest. Those things are NASTY!!! I would much rather clean the toilet with my hand so I can get it REAL clean. My hands are washable!!!
We had to get a new coffee maker recently since she had spilled water all down in the old one and it quit working. The new one is a little more modern and she had a hard time trying to get it figured out. She thought I should take it back. I told her I would just take it downstairs and bring it up to her each morning. That has worked well.
I'm sure things will get worse in the future. I just had to think about it this morning, as I was cleaning the front of that blouse that my life seems like it is going backwards. After those years of poopy diapers and spills and messes, now we are reverting back to SOME of those things again.
One thing we have figured out. WE ARE SIXTY YEARS OLD!!! The days of listening to Grandma for advice(even though it was not asked for) are quickly leaving us. We have already made those decisions ourselves.
I couldn't help but be amused when I realized that we, too, will be eighty, should the Lord tarry His coming. AND the world will have passed us by too. And that will be a good thing. It would not be good for our children if the world stayed static!
I was thinking about the people that came over to settle this country. It was years that each generation could have passed down valuable information about survival! Just as the Bible has prophesied, knowledge has increased at such a rate of speed now that the advice I would have to give to my children would be laughable. I'm sure their world will be much more technological than we have now.
BUT the only thing I will have to give my children is a Spiritual heritage. That is something that I can continue to grow in until death. I can continue to worship and praise the God of creation. I can try my own faith and share that with my children. It is my job to continue on this journey, full of faith and a desire for more of God's will so that I can share that until death.
I want my life and my death to be an encouragement to others in the faith!!!
These will be verses that I can cling to for the future:
II Corinthians 12: 9-10
"...My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong."
posted by momlinda1945 | 9:00 AM
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