Today my family and I were at my step mom’s birthday. It was held at her mother’s assisted living home. Let me set up the situation. My step mom comes from a very wealthy family, so the assisted living home her mother lives in is really nice. Every Sunday, to the best of my knowledge there is a buffet brunch that is incredible. At this brunch there is an omelet station, a salad bar, a pasta bar, and a meat station, all of which has really good food. We were in a rented banquet room and there were 14 of us in this room, and this room was hot and stuffy.

I have a three year old son who has more energy than the sun. In fact if we could harness his energy we could solve the energy problems we have in America today. Okay not really, but he does have a lot of energy and the room was really hot and stuffy so I took him to the court yard to get some air for myself and some room for my son to run around. In the court yard there were some elderly people sitting outside. I have to be very honest, I was really nervous as to how my son and the elderly people would react. Not that my son is a terror, but because he had so much energy. He is around my Grandmother all the time, and is very good, but we are usually in a location he is very comfortable with. Also I know my Grandma is comfortable with my son. But I am pleased to say that everything went very well.

It is amazing how lonely this group of elderly people seemed. I don’t know if they were lonely, I don’t know what it’s like to be elderly, and I don’t know what it’s like to be in a situation where I can’t take care of myself. So my son was walking by with a toy is his hand, and there was one lady who said “hi” to him. He said “hi” back and walked over to her and started talking to her. Her eyes lit up. He then went over to a gentleman that was sitting across the way and talked to him for about 5 min. It was really incredible to watch this interaction take place; someone at the beginning of their life and someone at the end of their life.

I think that more people should talk to elderly people. They have so much wisdom, life and knowledge to offer. Elderly people are forgotten about. It is easy to shove them into a home and forget about them. I’m not saying that assisted living homes are bad, but I am saying that all too often elderly people are put into these homes because their children are too busy, don’t have enough room, or any other kind of reason. I’m not saying that there are not legitimate reasons for putting elderly people into assisted living homes but I do think that “out of sight, out of mind” happens all too often. Elderly people are like three year olds. They are capable of doing a lot of things independently, but physically they do have limitations and do require a certain amount of help from able bodied people.

It almost seems that it is a child’s duty to take care of the elderly parent at the end of their life, because the parent took care of the child in the beginning of their life. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the parent move in with the child, but the child needs to be supportive and emotionally available for the parent whenever the parent needs support. I guess it all comes down to putting another person’s needs in front of your own.