Surviving the elderly

An emotional shitstorm

This post was inspired by a conversation with a friend and kind of feels like pep-talkign myself a little.

We should all be lucky to grow old. But caring for aging loved ones drives people crazy, sometimes straining their mental and physical resources.

Life only goes one way, but we all get there differently, and the choices we make determine the kind of old cranks we become and how many frustrations we bestow on our caretakers. Even though I write from a caretaker's perspective, I hope the ones taken care of find it useful, too.

At 52, I am close to starting down that path with mixed feelings while seeing friends around me struggle with their particular challenges, some well ahead of me. The common denominator – unprepared. "No one told me this is going to suck this much," they say.