Ravages of Aging

Today Caity and I each brought our two kids along with my other nephew, Aidan, to my sister's nursing home (she's the activities director) to participate in a children's parade. The residents really seemed to enjoy having little kids and babies to talk to and coo at, and the kids were happy to get free balloons and eat cookies.

But I couldn't help but be sad. My sister's worked with the elderly since her graduation from college almost 10 years ago, and she loves her job, loves working with people who have Alzheimer's and dementia, loves taking care of people that the rest of society would rather forget. Hey, she's not perfect, but work like this is what secures your place in heaven. The sadness came from the illness, the deformity, the cloudy minds of the once-vibrant people around me. None of us can escape getting older. We can hope that modern medicine will save us from the symptoms, or hope that we die quickly without suffering from chronic illness. But ultimately aging occurs, and I'm grateful that there are people like Andrea who will really love me even when I'm almost not "me" anymore.

Speaking of aging - I'm 28 years old today. We had a party at my aunt's house and I was able to read in my grandma's journal about the day I was born. My mom soldiered through, and almost died giving birth to me, and I was small at 5lbs and 13oz (I grew!) - Grandma was afraid to hold me for fear I might break. She said Andrea seemed to know what was going on and was pleased. (Her feelings about that varied over the years, I'm sure!). I'm glad to be here now, with so much of my family near.

And even more unbelievable - in 10 more years, I'll be 38. Wow.