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Birthday 67

The great thing about a “Bucket List” is that it is flexible and ever expanding. One of my favorite “stay young” songs is “18 Til I Die”.

I had the most epic experience for this birthday, just to make sure I was not slowing down in any way. The Virginia International Raceway (VIR) has an annual charity event that provided me the incredible opportunity to whirl around a race track at over 150 miles an hour in BOTH a Richard Petty NASCAR AND a Lamborghini. Each had its own experience, however, the Lamborghini can be bought for a mere quarter of a million dollars. I didn’t ask what the insurance cost would be.

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Reflections

It is in the eyes of the beholder, however, can the beholder trust the eyes only?  The first picture appears to be correct with the sky above and the land below.

Or…was this real or simply imagined from a reflection on water, then rotated 180 degrees and cropped!  See the edge of lake water line at the bottom. The blue reflection off the water is an incredible reflection.

Original photo.  Amazing, eh?

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Thoughts From Journals Past

One of the most important things for me to do is to write.  I remember as a young child 7-8 yrso, I would tell stories to myself and write stories all afternoon on a sunny day outside. They most often started with “and then”.  Each chapter would continue with “and then”. Even now I seem to receive an enormous amount of satisfaction and increased self-esteem simply by writing what is on my mind.

Due to that compulsion, I have written journals dating back to my early twenties. Every once in a while, I pick up an old friend and languish in the joy and misery of times past. I am often amazed, and amused as well, by some of the nuggets that I have thought to paper.

Here are some samples:

“Safety in a shipwreck can only be appreciated from the side of disaster.”  – January 2012

“Happiness is not simply about laughter or sexual release or being fulfilled, or purposeful, or determining why we are here. No, it’s the feeling of contentment of knowing we are being here in the moment, exerting as much focus as possible on keeping love in our hearts for as many minutes as possible; so that at the end of the day we can feel that we have invested sufficient amounts of time and energy to be able to say; “I did my best”. – January 2012

“Love is also fiery with contrast – looking for a new and exciting place to land.” – December 2011.

“Changes are like emotions. They can occur quite unexpectedly, like no rhyme or reason. They take us by such surprise that we are caught totally off guard and simply unsure of the direction to take. All we know is that we have to deal with a new environment that will require the same attention, minute by minute, feeling by feeling, ever mutating to the point of near insanity. Constantly we examine our truth. Being true to oneself can invite the Freudian mind to intercept and pirate our thoughts to less qualified endings.” – December 2011

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Senior Advocate Continues 2

I learned where and how to file a complaint regarding the poor, and often dangerous, care, my sister, Molly, has been receiving at a Meridian facility in Raleigh, called The Covington House. I have learned the criteria for a complaint, which my sister’s care qualified easily, the response times and procedures, how to obtain more information, and, as always, persistence pays off when it comes to bureaucracy.

One of the first things I have done, once I had been giving Power of Attorney for my sister’s affairs, was to get as much of her bill payment online as quickly as possible. I also have scanned all her bills and sent to her email. I have created a spreadsheet for all her income and debts and can monitor her bank accounts and credit cards.

I have located a government service that looks at what the individual has in terms of income and insurance, etc; and then recommends what coverage would be best suited. They also list all nursing homes and ratings by government monitoring agencies every three months.

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Senior Care Advocate

Things happen for reasons that we may never know, nor understand. On February 4, 2014, my sister, Molly, had a stroke. It left her paralyzed on her left side and unable to care for herself. Having been a fairly active, self-motivated, business owner, she kept an amazingly positive attitude for quite some time in the beginning. Losing most of one’s abilities will wear anyone down from time to time. Although there was some loss of cognitive ability, she has maintained a firm grasp on the here and now.

It took some time for recovery to take effect – nearly twelve months for sure. Her children, however, were less than prepared for their mother being stripped away so suddenly from them as the matriarch of the family. The events that have taken place since that fateful night will take some time to come out. Suffice it to say that I have learned many things about family units and the lessons that are passed down from one generation to the next.

Thankfully, I was raised believing that the family works together and protects each other from outside threats. I think that was further ingrained into me by the military. Esprit de corps and all that.

My sister called it “Circling the wagons”. When I discovered that my sister was not receiving the proper care that she deserved, I found it necessary to get involved to protect her rights and property,

This is the first post entry regarding what I have learned, expect to learn, and how I can benefit my future by what I am learning about the aging process and how seniors are being treated in our present society.