Aging in Place

For better or worse, June and July are just a memory.

I thank my readers for hanging in during a time of change in my life.  I am not quite done yet.

My spouse and I have been working, the past several weeks (with the help of another family member we couldn't have done it without) on downsizing and moving my elderly mother in law closer to us (right now we are about three hours away from her).  Before the end of the month, we hope she will be up here, in a living situation more suited to her physical condition.

She tried to age in place.  It worked for years but, in the end, she is having to move.

So much has happened in these weeks. My mother in law had heart valve surgery and spent time in ICU and in rehab.  She got a buyer for her house where she has lived for over 50 years.

Lots of suffering.  But also lots of gifts.  In a way, we are too exhausted to appreciate some of these gifts, but one day we will.  I hope that day is soon.  But right now I know one gift I've been given.

We now know which family members will come through in hard times and which will not.  That, in itself, is a gift, but it has also caused me a lot of anger I will not subject my readers to.

There has also been a lot of saying goodbye (not so much for me as for my spouse and some members of his family, my mother in law's next door neighbor and good friends and others.)  I did not grow up in that house.  I did not raise children in that house.

I have so much to blog about, and I just don't have time.

So I will fill the gap with another blogger's thoughts.  Carol Cassara is an excellent writer. 

Recently she wrote a post called "The Gift of Aging In Place".  My mother in law tried to age in place, but her house wasn't right for it, and after a time it just didn't work anymore. 

I hope my mother in law does, one day, so she can know she made the right decision.