Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Well… it’s Sunday, and as usual I have many thoughts going through my head today. And I’m never really sure what’s going to come out until I start writing, either. One of the things that’s come up a few times over the past week is a topic that we probably don’t like to think about very much - the possibility that we could see our minds and bodies deteriorate as we get older, and eventually wind up in a nursing home or bedridden somehow. A disease like Alzheimer’s doesn’t care who you were, how smart or witty you were, or how well you took care of yourself… it can take anyone down with it. In my business, I deal with people who are dealing with the reality of having to care for aging parents or grandparents on a regular basis. Nursing homes are full of people who never thought they’d be in a nursing home. It’s a tough decision to make, to put a family member into a home. Or to leave your home and move to a senior living facility. And, as we age, and our bodies start to not be able to do the things we just took for granted for most of our lives - things like walking, for example - or remembering things - the reality of being closer to death than we are to birth starts to creep in. For the people who wind up needing full-time care in a home, what is that existence like? Many are in wheelchairs. They need help going to the bathroom. Eating. Putting clothes on. Then… you sit there. Alone. With whatever thoughts you’re capable of. This is the reality of how some of us reading these words right now will end our lives. It is how my own mother lived the last twelve years of her life. We visited often, but even if you go spend an hour a day every day with a family member in a home, there are 23 hours to just sit there… and at that point, she couldn’t read or watch TV even due to poor hearing and macular degeneration. Just sit there. Call for help if you need the bathroom. Go in your diaper if they don’t get there in time. This is end of life reality for many people. I applaud the people who do the work in these facilities. I couldn’t do it myself, for any amount of money. And they are not paid well for it, either. I will give a shout out here to everyone who does this type of job and finds it rewarding. I’m very thankful there are people who have their hearts in the right place who can do the work needed to do to make others lives more bearable in those times, in those situations. I never want to be in that situation. I never want to have to make the decision to put someone else in that situation. But life will give us things to deal with that we don’t want to deal with. There aren’t many guarantees in life, but that’s one of them. I drive myself pretty hard to stay healthy and fit in both mind and body so neither I, nor anyone else in my family will ever have to make the decision for me. Life is a sexually transmitted terminal disease. None of us get out alive. We can only control the moment we’re in. So, make every moment count while you still can. Think outside the box. What could you do right now, or this week, this month, this year - to bring more joy into your life, or the lives of others? Write, produce and direct a life you wil feel good about when the final curtain falls. Because it will fall, and there are no do-overs. And time… time isn’t guaranteed to anyone. Every moment is precious.
