OLDER

It has been a momentous year and of course it is not yet finished, I am sure there will be more to come before it finally creeps it's way into 2017. I have never understood why we place so much importance on each passing year and the punctuation of days, that mark each one. It seems that we humans have a natural predisposition towards marking time as it passes. The older I get the more important those things become that in my youth seemed less so. Perhaps it is the fate of all people as they grow older to understand the unique bond that it is family (and good friends). Our relatives will require extra attention as they age into the run up to their demise. The Who sang "I hope I die before I get old" they did not sing "I hope my family cares for me when I get old" but this is what we must do. Well the good lady and I have got to that stage, which so many people experience and our children will too, when we have to do what we think is best for our parents. Are they able to really look after themselves, how long can they continue to function with independent lives?
My mother in law is struggling, she is simply old and the fragility that goes with that age has began to affect her quality of life. My father is similarly affected and he is even older!
So what does one do, one naturally does what any son or daughter should do and try ones very best to look after them. It is not easy, its life.The parent becomes the child and yet we still want them to be that parent that we always knew and loved, it is a strange dilemma. Reality has to be faced and care must taken to strike the balance. It can be very difficult to explain to a parent that this is for their own good when they are frightened and lonely and are only to well aware of their own mortality. Death is just another stage of life a natural end to our biological clock running out of time. None of this is relevant, however when guiding a aging loved one to get through the daily rigors of their everyday exsistance, no amount of philosophy or explanation is necessarily going to help 
As a society it is imperative that we quickly get to grips with an aging population, which I am not that far off joining.
So to all of you who are taking the responsibility to look after an elderly relative or friend, however hard it is remember it is your love and kindness that makes their lives better and although it is hard it is always the right thing to do!