Walk in the rain

That was me tonight. The weather here in N.M. has changed radically, literally overnight, from muggy, high 80's to cold, rainy, and mid 50's. That's the blessing/curse of living just south of Canada - we sometimes enjoy a brief Arctic blast (and I don't mean the delicious treat sold by Dairy Queen.) Anyway, I decided to just go for a walk. I've been trying to do that at night after the kids are asleep. Generally I bring along my cell phone and chat with my sister to make the time pass more quickly, but tonight I brought the iPod and listened to a podcast instead. Very effective. It's sort of neat to walk in the rain...it wasn't a steady downpour but an occasional shower.

I'm in my later 20s and I'm discovering (already) how difficult it is to watch your parents age. My dad and my stepdad both have diabetes; my mother has heart problems; both of my husband's parents have heart problems and diabetes. Partly this is because none of them (not one in the whole bunch!) has ever been "healthy" - I mean, if they wanted ice cream or a soda, they had it. Also, we know more now than they did when they were younger, and it's much harder to change habits as you age. But it's a little bit frightening: How much longer until they need assisted care? Will that mean living with us, going to a senior living community, a nursing home? How to pay for all of that? Do they have long-term care insurance (to a man, no.)? Besides the concern and worry attendant to your own parents' aging, there is the additional fear for yourself: Am I doing all I can to be alive and healthy for a long time? Are the things I'm doing now going to lead me to where my parents are? Are my genetics going to doom me to cardiac trouble and diabetes? For me, it's not so much a matter of anyone actually dying (of course, it will happen and I'd be devastated) but it's more about how each person's quality of life is so impacted by disease. Luckily, for all of them, it's fairly well managed and they're able to get the care they need. But, except for my dad, none of them are really making any lifestyle changes that require sacrifice (like changing diet or increasing exercise) and, with their family histories, I wish they would see how essential that would be to their health. Hey, I wish I would realize that.

Here's a quote my husband found that describes perfectly our spring-cleaning efforts:

'Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." - William Morris 1880