I was out on a lunchtime errand today and was taking a cellphone call from my car in a shopping center parking lot.
Noticed a vehicle going in slow circles, angling for a close-to-the-door spot. Nothing unusual about that.
Looked up a few seconds later and noticed the lovely red-headed Lady who had been driving the car was now parked in a disabled parking spot -- that's what She was looking for! -- and was unfolding a sort of chair apparatus.
Looked up again and saw that the apparatus was a portable wheelchair into which She carefully set a frail and ancient Woman.
And then They two disappeared into Macy's.
It is a beautiful thing and a necessary thing to care for our aged ones. And that includes not just trips to the doctor and the drugstore but also, every now and then, to Macy's.
People, especially older folks, need to feel that they are more than a biological depository for pills -- that they can still get out and shop for perfume or a pretty outfit like any other human being.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Woman being beautiful
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4 comments:
Thinking of my mother in law as I read this. She is definitely a biological repository for many pills, but she is so much more! She carries within her stories that would curl your hair---about walking through the snow to get to her teaching job; and stitching documents into the lining of her coat when they made their hair-raising escape from Stalin and his boys; of scrubbing out a chicken coop in South America when they arrived there as immigrants after the war, so they'd have a roof over their heads.......I need to write them down soon---she is 89.
I wish I still had my grandparents. I didn't think much of it at the time but I would sure love to tap into some of those memories and stories today. I would have so much to ask them.
In general I agree, but it's complicated. Or maybe I'm jaded by the horrors stories of patients who are now having to care for elderly parents who were once very abusive to them.
Oh, Molly, You must write them down! Now! Do not delay or You will always regret it.
Chase: Both my grandparents wrote their histories for me and I cherish that.
Citizen: Unfortunately, that does happen.
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