Lockit
Posts: 11292
Joined: 5/7/2007 Status: offline
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When I first moved to that big building, I was just glad that I was saved from the way I had to live after 911 killing my business. I was stubborn and determined and not dead yet, but suddenly I had lost everything and that wasn't part of the plan. I very quickly got a death sentence and was no longer fighting for my life, but fighting to finish my life. In the following years, I lived in a little pull behind trailer, a garage that looked like it would fall down in a big wind and you know, I loved those places, even if in the garage, I froze my ass off... but I would rather have been there than any place else because it was mine and no one was telling me what to do. I wasn't yet ready to be in a nursing home and to look at me, you knew I was able and strong and yet I couldn't change the situation. I wasn't bad enough for any assistance and some thought me worthless because I couldn't be productive, not in any way that fit working for an employer. I was still planning on coming back up, but I needed a safe spot in which to pull everything together and this tower building found me. In an unlikely place I found out about it and when I was pacing in the cold Dec. wondering if I had the nerve to stand in front of a moving train... I heard about this place. Having worked with people in crisis and knowing about the need for assistance, I knew there had to be a waiting list, but still... it was cold out there and my private income of less than five hundred a month wasn't going to get me into anything else. In one day and with less than three hundred dollars I had a place, warmth and safety at last. I was very blessed to meet these people. I felt it an honor to know them and to get a glimpse into their lives, the ones they lived and the ones they were now living. I decided that people needed to know about this about how these brilliant minds that were going bad and these wonderful hearts were fading and yet still pretty amazing. Yet, I didn't believe anyone would read about them or wish to hear about them. It is like something you fear and avoid. You run here and there in life and you prepare for the later years, but you really don't know them until it touches your life. These people educated me, loved me and cried with me when my son was brain damaged and they all worried that it all would kill me. But my time there saved me. Their love and loving them saved me. They weren't useless... just a bit diminished. They still had a wealth of information and love to impart and yet, society and life was too busy and people overwhelmed, to take notice of what they were missing. From the wife of a farmer who couldn't keep up, to the local brilliant mind that had done so much for the community, to a big building everyone noticed but didn't know what it was. Each day the ambulance came and took someone we might know away. Someone new came to take their place. They really tried to make things better for the people there, but some couldn't make it to the elevator to go to the one meal a day, that added up to some money you couldn't really afford. No one wanted to join in on the parties held as we weren't children and no one but a child would have liked that. They had one computer way down on the bottom floor that few would use because it was so hard to be there. They had one place we were allowed to go sit outside with enough space or seating for about ten people. That was the place where we learned of others stories and who might need a bit of help. That was where we noticed who was having visitors and who had people that cared. They were the lucky ones and we all knew it and were glad for them and yet... you could see that others wanted a visitor too. Some of us got better and got out and some had situations where they had to leave, but if you go there today, you will see some of the same people, living there for ten or twenty years, still fighting to get something out of life. I miss those people and sometimes actually wish I were still there. I'm not as bad off as many were and I slow down, but I am still here taking care of grandchildren, taking care of my son and meeting men that tend to reject me because we know things are going to go bad, we just don't know when. They are bad enough that I am not accepted by most, but I really do have much more to give. We are afraid of what is to come, we don't have time in trying to survive or live our lives to add the extra of someone that's a challenge to take care of. We are afraid to see, afraid to live it and its just a bit easier to not face it. Some do and they take too much on... I really feel for them, but the ones I feel more for are those that don't because at some point they have to face the guilt or the walking away or bury it and one day when they are there, they will feel that maybe something they did or failed to do, was why they would one day suffer too. So many could be helped and live much better lives with just some small changes. I have a computer that keeps me from being too alone when I am alone and I keep my mind going with games, online mind stimulation puzzles, reading and taking part in lives outside my small life here. My amazing daughter, just 24 is facing taking on not just my son, but maybe even me one day and doesn't blink an eye and shows me I am appreciated. I live in a mobile home park, with a yard I can no longer take care of because of the lack of medical care, but I see many of these places filled with older people struggling to stay right where they are, lonely, isolated and yet wanting to hold on dear to their independence and it is a sad thing when a mobile home gets repaired and new people are there because you know... something bad took that person away. I watched people that had given up because life had changed so much and yet... with some pretty simple helps... their minds and bodies would have been stronger. Computers... mind puzzles, interacting with people even if only online, knowing that someone finds worth in the mind power you still have and mostly your heart are all things that save us. We need something to do. Someone to love that loves us too. I am a lucky one now that I am here somewhere close to my daughter as I know she has my back. Others... they have no one and just these simple things will keep them going much longer and they will be happier and far less of a challenge to deal with. They just give up on themselves thinking too much has happened and they feel unloved and think they can't learn... well I taught a few to use a computer and they were much happier. They had the means to buy a computer, they did well. I had to force some to believe that while we learn slower and may forget, we can learn new things that will help us as we age. Get your loved ones active in something that stimulates the mind and the heart and it will be far easier for you and for them. I don't mean to sound preachy. I just had a glimpse of life that some might not know or see until it is one of those times and I saw a lot of people wasting away that didn't have to. They need purpose, activity that would interest an adult mind, contact with other people where they still have some independence and to love and be loved. If sharing all this... and believe me I am not preaching... I am begging actually, helps just one person see and one person be helped it is worth it and any embarrassment I feel in the sharing. Begging people to see that with a few helps and love strong enough to notice we aren't being as honest about our issues because we are afraid and just as new parents have things to deal with, so do these old folks and there are ways to help them other than simply making sure they don't hurt themselves or forget to pay bills. I know a group of people from 65 to their nineties that join online, have found love and acceptance and while they may live with family and know and are treated like they are a burden and some live alone unable to do things they need to do... these people are success stories because they continue on the best they can and they have a wealth of love and interesting stories. One is an older dom I met after my son was injured and that is how I found them. Just a computer and online service is really changing their lives and some can't remember to tie their shoes... lol... believe me, they are benefiting. Then there are seniors centers that some can go to, but can't get to. There are simple things you can do to help them and yourself in seeing that they are cared for. I'm stopping now... I'm sorry if I went off, but there can be life even after dementia or age effects us and we aren't needing a headstone just yet.
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No matter how old a woman gets, some men will think she was born yesterday! ROFL... I love this place!
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