![]() |
Image from Pinterest |
I met her when she was 75. I was 41. She became one of my group tour leaders, getting people to go on cruises and tours that I planned. I gave her free trips, we took fabulous trips together. From Aruba to Alaska, we spent many fun times on anything from a one-day motorcoach tour to several week-long cruises with 'her' gang of Seniors who loved traveling.
She was 91 on our last group tour together, it was to Branson, MO. Wayne Newton was on stage and called out her name to wish her a Happy Birthday. I thought she'd be thrilled. She wasn't. She didn't want the attention or have it announced to a theater group that she was 91. She grumbled all the way back to the hotel.
I took her to get her first driver's license when she was 81. Her husband's eyes were keeping him from driving, and she was determined not to be homebound, she had things to so.
And that is why I think she lived to be 95. She had things to do. She had a purpose. In her mind, who would take care of the things she took care of, also in her mind, there was no one else who could do it as well as she.
It was after she moved into a retirement, was no longer in charge of organizing things that I saw her health begin to fail.
I still miss her.
She went into a retirement home when she was 93. She had a nice apartment, didn't need assisted-living, and was able to take care of herself and her cat. But that was all she had to do. No one needed her to run things. She had no meetings to go to or activities to plan. One day was like the next, and for her it was boring.
Did assisted-living and having anything to do cause her decline? Probably not, age did that. I think she was able to reach that age without any health problems along the way for two reasons.
#1 - She didn't have time for health problems
#2 - She had things to do, places to go and a reason for being, a purpose.
We all need a purpose, a reason for being, something to look forward to. Do you know yours? Are there more than one?
M. Bradley McCauley
©2017
Disclosure
Some of the links in this Blog may be affiliate links, which means I may
receive compensation from some of the links listed here for referrals as
a thank you for me sending you their way including Amazon.
receive compensation from some of the links listed here for referrals as
a thank you for me sending you their way including Amazon.
I know my Reason for living is Animal Rescue & that's what keeps me going ~ Knowing I am Helping Gods Animals & Feeding 3 Colonies of his Homeless Feral Kitties & so much more <3 <3 It Gives Me Joy in my Heart & a Purpose for living <3
ReplyDeleteI agree that a sense of purpose is important to make getting out of bed each morning worthwhile. My work on our family history should last me until I'm 110. If they won't let me take my computer to the nursing home, I'm not going.
ReplyDelete