I may be the oldest volunteer at our city shelter but do every bit of the physical stuff that most volunteers do not! If I did not know the cats(kitten season now) were waiting for me I would have an unfillable place in my heart! I fostered for over a year and had 14 plus cats and kittens come through my life and tiny condo! I adopted in March and miss fostering although I love my Priscilla cat! Wish I had more room to continue the fostering but doubt that will happen. With the Memorial Day weekend, the CATS! and dogs will be lacking in volunteer touch and I worry about them in this amount of time. I cannot wait to get there on Tuesday so there are things to do but as of late, I’ve had several challenges in past year, one of which I was afraid was going to prevent me from ever being on my feet very much, but I overcame that and I just pray that I can keep going for a while longer with my love… the cat lady ( little dogs) at my beloved place!
I find this kind of well-intentioned but clueless approach to aging rather naive. “Aging” is not “sage-ing” for many elders. It certainly is not the case for many, many more elders than this writer appears to have experience of. An elder’s final years, in this American societal catastrophe of late-stage capitalism, are very deeply affected by the presence or absence of sufficient financial, healthcare, and familial resources. In my own professional career (I, too, am a PhD) in social work, I saw and dealt first-hand with the ravages of poverty, poor health, and isolation among elders (among their myriad other psychosocial problems). Spend time in your local department of geriatric social services. You might have a more realistic understanding of aging in America.
What aspects of who we were are we still holding on to—and do they or can they still fit who we are now?
I like the term "sage-ing". I think I'll use it from now on!
I may be the oldest volunteer at our city shelter but do every bit of the physical stuff that most volunteers do not! If I did not know the cats(kitten season now) were waiting for me I would have an unfillable place in my heart! I fostered for over a year and had 14 plus cats and kittens come through my life and tiny condo! I adopted in March and miss fostering although I love my Priscilla cat! Wish I had more room to continue the fostering but doubt that will happen. With the Memorial Day weekend, the CATS! and dogs will be lacking in volunteer touch and I worry about them in this amount of time. I cannot wait to get there on Tuesday so there are things to do but as of late, I’ve had several challenges in past year, one of which I was afraid was going to prevent me from ever being on my feet very much, but I overcame that and I just pray that I can keep going for a while longer with my love… the cat lady ( little dogs) at my beloved place!
I find this kind of well-intentioned but clueless approach to aging rather naive. “Aging” is not “sage-ing” for many elders. It certainly is not the case for many, many more elders than this writer appears to have experience of. An elder’s final years, in this American societal catastrophe of late-stage capitalism, are very deeply affected by the presence or absence of sufficient financial, healthcare, and familial resources. In my own professional career (I, too, am a PhD) in social work, I saw and dealt first-hand with the ravages of poverty, poor health, and isolation among elders (among their myriad other psychosocial problems). Spend time in your local department of geriatric social services. You might have a more realistic understanding of aging in America.
Janice, I want to add you to my old lady brigade!