A Senior’s Scene

Cousin Kathryn called me last month. Asked if I had any days off.

Whether or not I could take Uncle Len away.

For a change of scene.

She needed a break.

She from him. Maybe him from her.

Leonard is 88 years young. With a sense of humour to whip a bat. The IQ of a President and the determination of a gerbil on a treadmill.

When he’s awake, he’s alive.

Yet the years past have robbed him of the spry and youthful physic.

The neck and back vertebrae are disintegrating.  

The two heart surgeries have left with scars.

Yet, he’ll pull on the runners and do his best to walk out the door.

When I arrived at their shared RV trailer I was shown the blister packs and a container of medication. Daily doses. Not once but three times a day. Varying in numbers.

Whilst packing up readying to go his Doctor called.

An adjustment to the blood thinner was needed. Every other day a pill and a half.

We packed the pill cutter and an extra blister pack.

Breakfast isn't vitamins for a Senior today.

“Shoppers Drug Mart sent me a bill,” he tells me later. “For $2,000.”

“What?!” I exclaim.

Knowing full the fixed income, the pension – won’t cover it.

Leonard’s driver's license wasn’t renewed this year. That was a gulp for him.

In my positive tone I reminded him how nice it is to be driven around (as in celebrity).

The conversation idled over the telephone. I knew that one hit him hard.

Independence robbed. The realization he’s completely dependent on others to go anywhere.

For everything.

He’s not alone, I remind myself. Our aging population is rumbling through these challenges. Families working together, or not as caregivers.

Yet knowing what my father went through in a nursing home, wheelchair bound, where full care was needed, there’s definite gratitude for Leonard’s ability to live day to day in his own home.

Over the next four days I managed patience. 

Seniors move slowly. They need to. There’s no time or alarms on their clocks.
Their bodies dictate how far they can go in a day.
Managing the pain is their daily challenge. 

Writing Destiny

Imagine.

Of course you can.

Then you know.

What is.

The why, the who. 

And then the what.

Free-will.

Take it.

Elevated risks.

Spoken harmony.

Contemplate.

Short lived.

Delight for the now.

It is the knowing.

Of what should be.

The Habit of Time

Once I heard my son say sleeping was over-rated. I beg to differ.  I was trying to tell him he needed to catch up on his sleep.

“That’s impossible,” he replied. "You can never catch up on sleep."

The dog sleeps with his tongue out. Snoring. I profess to giving him a swift foot nudge when he starts to twitch at the end of my bed. It’s nice someone is asleep.

As far as scheduling out time though, here’s the thing. Should we be scheduling sleep?

Recently an associate asked me what time I went to sleep, what time I got up and what I did when I woke up first thing.

It got me thinking. Living takes time. Think about it. There's all this other time stuff like for example:

• Time to eat.
• Time to wash dishes.
• Time to vacuum.
• Time to buy groceries.
• Time to walk the dog.
• Time to shower.
• Time to check emails, Facebook and Twitter.
• Time to work out.
• Time to talk to friends.
• Time to meditate.
• Time to be with family.

And so on. Not including the biggest time suck of all - work.

I’ve been to known to answer in a stern voice when asked, "exactly what time will I get there?" (at my mother’s house for the family dinner for example) with, “I’ll be there when I get there!”

What about the time to just be? To space out. To vacate. To drift off. To go off into la la land.

Do you make any time for that -  in your habit of time?

Life is Opportunity

Pretty sure when you ask anyone about destiny and what it means to them there’s going to be something about life in there. Living. Money. Health. Family. Career.

But all that can change in a heart beat.

I have a neighbour who brought that to light.

A few days ago I had the chance to chat with her. We met in line at the ferry terminal. She’d just returned from running a half marathon race in San Francisco and touring the region around. I felt so elated hearing of her accomplishment.  

Then she brought up her partner and the “C” word. Cancer. He’d recently been diagnosed. It is terminal.

I felt saddened, yet celebrated. She told me they planned to share their story in a blog. Their new journey of life. Planning trips. Living each day with hope. It’s called Rootin' For Ron.

When I think about the end of life, I recall those close to me whose spirits have passed. Not necessarily gone. They’ve moved on. But always in my heart.

Then I reflect on R&J and their voyage. To live each day to the fullest. With laughter and love. With hope.

Their new opportunity for life.

I'm Rootin' For Ron. 

Free Spirits

Go as you please. Take what you want. Don’t need to tell anyone anything. Come and go. Help if you feel like it. Turn your back on anyone you want. Leave anytime. Smile if you heart says so. Laugh if you please. Cry if you want. What else?
Drop hook somewhere. Float around. Cast a rod. Sling a fish, maybe. Take a walk. Off on a hike? Escape to nowhere. Doesn’t matter when, or where or how. Nothing matters. What is, is only for now.
Living.

Grateful For Living

John told me today that he was lucky to be alive. That he savoured each day with gratitude. Some years ago he’d had half his intestine removed. Some kind of rare protein deficiency in his blood I believe.
John has a boathouse next to the one I am working in. This was a fruitful conversation as were accounting for doing things right. We both agreed that taking the time to do a job properly was better then going half ass. In this case we were referring to the job I was working on. It was an old boat. The varnish was badly checked. Instead of patching I’d started from the beginning. Stripped it all down and sanded it clean and smooth.
John left and the words “Life can change in a heartbeat,” echoed in my mind. We all know that.
I immediately thought of the day I had arrived home to a Tsunami warning sign posted on our security gate. As I hadn’t tuned into the radio, this came as a complete surprise. An earthquake in Chile the cause.
This led my thinking to the ash cloud, flooding, forest fires and hurricanes. Yes, life can change in a heartbeat, not only with your health - but with the world we live in. The world as we know it changed forever with 911.
I took a deep breath and carried on. Grateful for the opportunity to live today.