Thursday, July 24, 2008

Time for Reflection

So I just spent 4 days with my Grandmother - a woman I really hardly know and yet, I know her very well. I grew up 3000 miles away from her, my mom left New Jersey to move to Oregon when she was 7 months pregnant with me! (What a nut!) Grandma is now 89 years old and just this year lost the second love of her life. She now lives alone. She is active and bright and healthy and beautiful! ( I hope I've got some of her good genes!)

I was speaking with her sister, my great-aunt, and we were discussing the aging issue. Aunt Florence asked me to please keep in touch with Grandma - "She gets lonely". Of course I said I would, as I left to travel back to my lovely home in California.

Now don't get me wrong here, Grandma by no means needs someone to take care of her, yet. But it got me thinking, again, about how we isolate our senior citizens and how painfully lonely it must be to live alone and feel forgotten, by even your closest family members. I wonder what happened to the American population that made it seem okay, even preferable, to "warehouse" our elderly citizens in their own communities or in "assisted living facilities". I think part of it is that the the seniors themselves still desire their independence, but I also think we just became so busy with our own lives/careers/children that it was just, plain and simply, easier. How sad is that?

Please reach out to an elderly relative/neighbor/friend today...you can't even begin to imagine how much even a 10 minute conversation will mean to them. And remember - We're going to be old someday too!