He’s Back!!
Yep, Bill decided to write a blog… must be really bored;-))
We have been at Huntington Beach for over a month now spending most of our time getting Nancy’s Mom prepared for the next major change in her life. She is going to stop driving!! As we have learned, so often her generation does not think about or discuss what will happen as she ages and how she wants to handle things. There just is no planning;o((
We hope to not do this to our children!!!
Mom will be 93 in October and is still in relatively good health. However, many everyday things are becoming more difficult. We got her taxes completed, arranged for all of her bills to be paid automatically every month, found a pharmacy that will deliver her prescriptions to her apartment and purchased large quantities of necessities so she doesn’t have to go to the store as often. This is just the beginning, but we find she needs to adjust to change gradually. She will continue to drive while we are away this summer.
When we get back in August, she will give the car to Nancy’s brother and learn to use the transportation provided where she lives. We want to be here as she learns in case there is a problem or she needs assistance figuring out how to manage scheduling her time. Grocery shopping is on Wednesday, banking and errands are on another day and hair appointments must be made a week in advance. Doctor appointments are always a priority but they would prefer a little notice.
We selected this Senior Living Center because they do provide so many services and that will allow Nancy and I to still do some traveling. However, it is only good if she learns to use the services she is paying for each month!!
All of these discussions and preparations have taken a lot of time and have been very stressful for Mom which then becomes stressful for us. Lot’s of tears about loss of independence and fear of change. The biggest fear of all is needing to move to assisted living. We have suggested many, many things to Mom over the last few years to get her thinking about how we will manage things if she needs more assistance.
Assisted Living is not the only choice here. They have in-home assistance also. Again… she just doesn’t want to think or discuss any of this. Trying to get her to address the assistance issue, Nancy finally said to Mom, “There are only two ways life is going to play out for everyone: either you die a sudden death before you need assistance or you are going to live long enough to need assistance.” Still she doesn't want to discuss it:o(
As I am writing this blog, very little of this information has gotten through to mom. At times it is very frustrating, but we will do the best we can to see that Mom is safe and receives any care & assistance she needs. Hopefully, Nancy and I will learn from this experience. When we get to the point where our independence starts to disappear, let’s hope we have embraced where we are in life and prepared for the assistance we need. Time will tell…..
Didn’t mean to ramble so…
but I’m sure that many our age are experiencing a similar situation.
Our weather has not been great, so not much going on at the beach;o(( But it has allowed us to get prepared for our summer and fall travels. We bought a couple of fishing rods & reels and replaced two outside chairs. Nancy replaced her very tired Panasonic camera with the newer model DMC-ZS30. We also got Baby the full spa treatment – a full 3-year maintenance service for the engine, chassis and generator. Nancy also completed her annual maintenance with the Doctor, Dentist and Eye Doctor. All that was needed is a new set of glasses – HOORAY!!!
Nancy has been working in the kitchen making most everything from scratch. We are trying to really eliminate oil, salt and sugar from our food. She has come up with some winners that even I like;o)) We have also stepped up our walking and bike riding which got lost this past winter. We need to be in shape to keep up with our “younger” friends this summer when we go hiking, biking and kayaking!!! We are so looking forward to the RV-Dreams Reunion Rally and returning to Maine this summer:o))
Just a couple more things need to be done before we pull out of South Carolina: get the truck serviced, finish up as many of the details with mom as we can and spend some time with the Grandchildren at Ocean Lakes!!! I’m getting a bad case of hitch-itch as this is the longest we’ve stayed at any park. Longer than a month is too long for me. Nancy’s better at this than I am.
I’m ready to GO!!!
