Aging

Hello readers, how are you?  I hope this past week has been a good one for you, and if it hasn’t been great, I hope you are headed into a nice, relaxing weekend.  Since my last entry, our family has been very busy.  So, I am going to keep this short. 

There is something a little personal that I would like to ask you about.  So let’s take a moment to talk about a hard topic, shall we?

As a parent of a young child, as many of you may also be, my time is completely occupied with the day-to-day task of taking care of my growing daughter.  But for some parents who's children are grown and out of the house, their focus may have to shift toward taking care of their aging parents.  That has been the story of my family over the past couple of weeks as my grandmother, at age 94, struggles with dementia.  

I’d rather not bore you with the details about what we have decided to do as a family.  But standing here now, looking forward, I have to ask myself what I plan to do if my own mother or father, or my in-laws struggle with the same things.  Have you had this conversation with your parents?  Have you asked them the tough questions about their preferences should their health decline so much that they become a danger to themselves and others?  What if they need 24 hour care?  What if their finances don’t allow them to bring someone into their home to provide that care?  In a culture where we spend so much time planning for our own future with finances (retirement funds, 401k, Roth IRA, etc, etc) wouldn’t it also be worthwhile to figure out how we will care for our aging parents should they need care?  It’s a very difficult topic to discuss- it is family, after all.  I have no wisdom to offer on the subject other than to just brave it and have the talk with your parents.  Someday, you might be very glad you did and that you have a plan everyone has agreed upon.  Good luck to you as you prepare for your future, and thanks for reading.