Thursday Thoughts: How to Age Gracefully

In three words: be like Grandma. My grandma turned 96 years old at the beginning of this year. It’s one thing to outlive contemporaries; it’s another to do so gracefully. Grandma has managed to live her life quietly, but with great determination and kindness.

I spent last week with my parents, helping them to move Grandma into their home. Grandma has been living in her own home, but the slowing down that comes with age and the recent onset of early stage Alzheimer’s has necessitated the move.

For a woman who once wired her farmhouse attic, losing independence seems unnatural. However, Grandma is gracious to everyone. She is cheerful and appreciative of help. She recognizes that she forgets some things, and it is frustrating to her to not be able to do as much as she used to. Nevertheless, she has accepted the “new normal.”

As I grow older, I hope to follow her example of independence and kindness. With any luck, I have also inherited her genes and will never need to dye my hair!

Thanks for Grandma!

Ten Things of Thankful: Autumn Edition

It's autumn time, one of my favorite times of year. I just couldn't leave this weekend as a one-post weekend.

Ten Things of Thankful: Last Two Weeks

Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from an overlook I apologize for not commenting on your blog posts this past week; John and I took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park, leaving behind our computers and, to a large extent, cell phone service. We escaped the outside world and just spent time in nature. Though we have friends near Yellowstone (who we love to visit) we made this trip just about us, so please forgive us if we were nearby and didn't stop by. The crowds were minimal (though we did mask up whenever we passed someone on the trails) and we spent our days hiking, taking photos, and watching geysers erupt. Today, we are back home and back to work, and, in the case of my computer, back to old shenanigans like not letting me import my photos. (I was able to add the above photo by using blogger on my phone, but that isn't my preferred method.) I want to write about Yellowstone and have photos I want to share, but will leave that for another...

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago. I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon. (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this...

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