“Grow old with me! The best is yet to be.”
~ Robert Browning
“The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles!”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Growing old is humbling and it takes effort to accomplish this stage of life with dignity.”
~ Kilroy J. Oldster
“When my grandmother was sick in the hospital, I foolishly quoted her the saying, ‘never regret growing old; it’s a privileged denied to many.’ She glared at me and responded, ‘spoken like a truly young idiot.
~ Dan Pearce
As we age, we are often unseen, overlooked, and patronized. That invisibility is far from the best years of our lives. As a society we have completely ignored aging, in so many ways. How did we lose sight of the most established population in our communities? How did we neglect to build a structure of care that includes dignity? Why are we building warehouses where people are hidden and forgotten?
Why are we not living our end-of-life years at home with dignity, within our own community, with a stay-at-home plan supported financially, physically, emotionally, and mentally? An aging plan should be built on the wisdom of seniors that is included and seen. As we age, we indeed experience invisibility! Aging is not in our elder hands, and we are at the mercy of not being heard FOR YEARS! There are so many pros and cons to aging, regardless, we should all be empowered to choose our home and how we want to live out our aging years. How do you want to live your aging years? It’s never too early to answer and give voice to that question!
Written by Deborah Lavender, BMG Senior Consultant
Image Copyright: CC0, www.rawpixel.com
