THE GOLDEN YEARS

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This morning I received an email from a very dear friend who has very early Alzheimer's Disease and has such a great attitude. I had my morning coffee and read this and thought,. "How true and funny this is of so many of us and not necessarily old and golden citizens of this fine land. We rush until our brain really does not know which way to go...... open or close:

I'm writing to say I'm living'
That I'm not among the dead,
Though I'm getting more forgetful
And mixed up in the head.
I got use to my arthritis,
To my dentures I'm resigned.
I can manage my bifocals
But gosh, I miss my mind!
For sometimes I can't remember
When I stand at the foot of the stairs
If I must go up for something
Or have I just come down from there?
And before the fridge so often,
My poor mind is filled with doubt.
Have I just put the food away
Or have I come to take some out?
So if it's my turn to write you
There's no need for getting sore;
I may think I have written
And I don't want to be a bore.
Just remember that I love you
And wish that you were near.
Now it's nearly time
So I must say goodbye, my dear.
Here I stand beside my mailbox
With a face so very red!
Instead of mailing you my letter
I have opened it instead!

I promptly called her up and we had a great time laughing at just how we had become and silently in the back of our minds prayed for the calming of today's generation of speeding minds...love ya Pokie

Changes in the Air

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This is and has always been my favorite time of year.  As a farmer the crops come in and the gardens are put up in anticipation of a hard winter.  No matter what my circumstances, I have always put vegetables up and laid in supplies for the winter.  It may be really important this year to be prepared because of our condition and the threats of flu.  I plan to stay on the farm as much as I can stand it and be exposed to illness at a minimum.
Mom and I visited the garden today for the last of the peppers, tomatoes and watermelons.  Tomorrow we will harvest some sweet potatoes and regular potatoes.  This activity really makes my mom feel good.  She lived through the depression in a family of twelve and the present economy scares her terribly.  The more she sees me putting up the better she feels.  Nothing must go to waste because throwing away is not in her being.  It's funny how she can remember that time so well and yet her daily tasks are so frustrating.  We co-hab in a split level from the sixties and if she needs something upstairs, by the time she gets there she has forgotten what she wanted.  God bless her she tries and works entirely too hard for someone her age.  I see the fear in her eyes at what is going on around her and it makes me so sad.  We passed our doctor of thirty years the other day at the hospital.  It was me with Parkinson's and my mom with Alzheimers and my eight year old granddaughter.  As he passed he started laughing.  I looked at him and my reply was, "What?"  He answered,  "It's hard to tell who is taking care of who."  Some days I wonder the same thing.  I know we are just beginning on the journey through the real changes.  She has always had someone to take care of her.  First her older brothers and then my dad and now me. She does not understand what is wrong with me and why I am so tired all the time and even if I explained whe wouldn't understand.  I am becoming the mother and she the child except I cannot walk.....Oh, well thank God we are farmers because there is always something for her to watch or piddle with out here and life goes on regardless of change....love Pokie