Tuesday, May 12, 2009

CARING FOR EACH OTHER IN OLD AGE

My husband and I are at present 77 and 79 respectively and have very few associates, and family members are usually rather busy although there are a few of them who are always there for us without question.
What I am trying to say is that in everyday life he and I are there for each other. He has been wonderful playing mother after my two recent hip replacement operations and I try to be there in little ways too...reminding him to take his medication which he sometimes forgets, putting in his eye drops each night (he has glaucoma) and those little important things which are necessary as one ages.
We are now in the process of recovering for really nasty head colds...he was the first to come down with it and I tried to care for him to the best of my ability...then it was my turn and as he recovers he is doing his best to care for me.
In my mind I hope when the time comes that I go first, but recently when he was worried about me following my operation he told me (after much questioning) that "I just can't imagine life without you!" so am I being very selfish in not wanting to be here without him?
I feel I am more dependent on him than he is on me but he disagrees and says he would be lost without me, so I guess we both see things from our own corners.
Most of our friends have departed this mortal coil and neither of us feel like breaking in new friends. Once you reach our age friendships are established and one cannot expect others to accept you into their established circle of friends of many years.
This is our second time around as far as marriage goes (his first one lasted about 11 years and mine lasted 13 years) and in our case the second time around has proved to be fantastic and this year we will have been married for 42 years. We try not to think of how many more years there will be. We don't live in the past but try and live for today and hope there will be a future ahead for some time yet.

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