Thursday, February 27, 2014

Aging--Macular Degeneration: A Determined 100-year-old's Efforts to Maintain Quality of Life

Sr. Advisor R has been called "amazing" for years by so many 40-60-year-olds, who call her "terrific" and "timeless." Past posts have underscored their respect for her wisdom and admiration for her ways of handling things. She's both an advisor to this bog, and my m-i-l. And currently she is facing another challenge: a big round spot blocking vision in one eye--macular degeneration.

To view entire post, please go to my other site.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Aging Parents: Feel-Good Outing Ideas~ After A Long, Cold Winter

2013 Philadelphia Flower Show
2013 Philadelphia Flower Show


Feel-Good Outings

Aging parents needn't be couch potatoes to feel depression or cabin fever due to a harsh winter. It's easy fo anyone! Cold, an absence of sunshne, and slippery sidwalks can make anyone feel cranky, if not depressed. "Trapped in the house," "Looking at the four walls." I've heard these expressions from elders.

And "cranky" may not go away easily. Negatives like a bad health diagnosis, another friend's problem, the world's problems, not to mention loss of a friend, pet, or part of a support system (dentist, hair dresser) add to being miserable.



Please go to my other site to view entire post.






Friday, February 21, 2014

When Care-giving Threatens the Family's Functioning--Part 2: In-laws and Spouse

hanging mobile - Quiet Ending

Few challenges require establishing priorities, setting boundaries, testing the loyalty and dealing with allegiances the way in-laws with health issues can.

When our spouse's aging parents require more attention and care, in-laws--whether loved or not--are thrust into the family's dynamics. Obviously this changes the balance. The way we handle it is key.

To view entire post, please go to my other site.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Best Last-Minute or Any Time Valentine for a Loved-One

I loved this Valentine idea when Monique told me she thought of it for her mother a few years ago; and I introduced it on this blog last year....While Monique's 89-year-old mother lives in France, I think this works for anyone we love, in any circumstance--whether being sent far away or delivered close to home or to a care center or nursing home. With permission, I share once again and personally use it for the first time.
 
To view entire post, please visit my other site

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Aging Parents and Super Bowl XLVIII Ads


                    Photo: Anheuser-Busch

What could be better entertainment for aging and elderly parents
than watching some of these ads?


Please visit my other site to view entire post and watch selected videos of ads

Monday, February 3, 2014

Aging Parents/Childhood: My Parents' Home--The Long Farewell

 NO GIRLS ALLOWED sign in front of boy's clubhouse--decades before Woman's Lib.Would you guess the young girl is now a well-recognized low vision specialist? 
NO GIRLS ALLOWED sign in front of boy's clubhouse--
decades before Woman's Lib.
                           The young girl is now a well-recognized low vision specialist.


How many of us have had the bittersweet experience of being back on the street where we lived, in the bedroom of our growing up, years after our parents have died?  Our street was a micro world--kids about the same age who, when very young, built summer huts of tall weeds on a vacant lot near the end of the street. Before adolescence our early "architecture" morphed into the boys'-built clubhouse in a neighbor's back yard. It had the requisite "NO GIRLS ALLOWED" sign.

Please go to my other site to view entire post.