When Life Happens All at Once – Part 2
Aunt Jean’s Ninetieth Birthday Party
September 29, 2016
The day after Aunt Jean’s 89th birthday, I started thinking about how to celebrate her 90th. When I asked her what she would like, she said, “I don’t care. Just don’t have one of those cake and coffee deals here. I hate those things!” I asked, “What would you think of having a party with wine and hors d’oeuvres instead?”
“Not here!” she replied, referring to the active retirement community where she lived. I thought about it for a few months, and then one afternoon it occurred to me that it would be great fun to have a party at a local winery. We could invite our family members and her closest friends to an elegant event in a gorgeous […]
A few weeks ago, our priest stopped by the hospital to make a pastoral call on my Aunt Jean. When we talked about all of the things that were happening in my family, she said, “Life sometimes happens all at once.”
Living with a terminal illness is extraordinarily difficult, especially when you are faced with choosing between continuing life-extending treatments or going into hospice care. I don’t think either choice is wrong, but I do think it’s important for each of us to think about which path would work best for us and for the people who love us.
Making the decision to go into hospice isn’t easy for anyone. It is especially difficult when the person with a terminal illness is a child. I was inspired to write this article by Jerika Bolen, a 14-year-old girl who decided to throw herself a prom before going into hospice.
This morning as I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of the projects that I have going on and all I need to get done, I came across this quote from Buddha: “I never see what has to be done. I only see what remains to be done.”
The reasons we choose to get married late in life can be very, very different from the things that motivate us to walk down the aisle when we’re young. Recently, our dear friends Rob and Shelly, who are both in their late seventies, decided after a twenty-year engagement, that it was time to get married.
Unless you have cared for someone who is aged, ill, or living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia-related disease, it’s hard to imagine how difficult it is to be a caregiver. Caregiver stress can cause a variety of physical and emotional ailments.
Putting the words dementia and intimacy into the same sentence can make some people feel quite uncomfortable.
What’s funny about caring for someone who is aged, chronically ill, or living with dementia? Absolutely nothing!
Unless you have cared for someone who is aged, ill, or living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia-related disease, it’s hard to imagine how difficult it is to be a caregiver. Caregiver stress can cause physical ailments, and it can often lead to depression.