First, let me apologize for not answering your comments on yesterday’s blog until this morning. I got a rush (paying job) at noon yesterday and worked all afternoon and evening to get it done. This morning is the first time I have been on the blogs since yesterday morning.
Second thing, it actually rained here yesterday. Very little, in fact you could see spaces between the drops on my deck. Is that what you call a two inch rain – two inches between drops? Well maybe next time the rain will not miss me.
OK, now to the blog. I heard a news story on the TV last night about a missing elderly couple. They had a big search going on between their kid’s house to theirs, only a few miles. They even had the equine people out looking.
You hear stories like this all the time and most have a very unhappy ending or the missing are never found. This time it had a happy ending, sort of. They were found over 500 miles away in Pensacola, Florida. All they had to say is that they took a wrong turn.
The bad part of that story is probably yet to come. The couple’s driver’s license will surely be pulled and even worse, they may end up in a nursing home. No matter what happens, this spells the end to their independence.
Now I know why there are so many older people who are full time RVers. They went on a trip one day and couldn’t find their way back home (grin). OK, I must admit that I did something quite similar a little over 20 years ago. I was working a contract job on the east coast of N.C. and my wife and son met me half way to trade vehicles. The next morning was cloudy when I left the motel. I didn’t realize I was going the wrong way on the interstate until I came to the state border. By the time I found an exit and got headed back the other way, I probably went an extra 300 to 500 miles before I got back to where I had spent the night. Made for an extra long trip back to N.C. and you ought to have seen the expression on my wife and son’s faces when I flashed the lights and waved at them when I passed them going the other way as they were heading back to Texas.
Maybe every time I leave the house, I should drive the motor-home. That way, if I can’t find my way back, who cares, and the powers to be reckoned with don’t have to know you have no idea where you are. Sounds like a plan to me.
You all have a great day, you hear?
This is something that I'm having to deal with, as two elderly relatives did similar things. I know how much independence is important to older people, but it's a simple fact that at some point, you just need someone to take care of you again. I'm glad they were found and they were safe. Unfortunately often it is just not as nearly a happy ending. At worse, they can kill with negligence.
ReplyDeletePlease be honest with yourself and your capabilities.
Grant, the only problem I get into now is arguing with the GPS lady. She doesn't want to go the way I want. . .
ReplyDeleteI have already modified my driving to accommodate the changes as I get older. I will know when it is time for me to hang up the keys, and I hope to hell no one tries to force me into any kind of assisted living.
ReplyDeleteSame with me, ,I'm lost with out my GPS (can't look at a map and drive)
ReplyDeleteDaddy did a similar thing in his car, went down the drive way to check the mail and came back 2 hours later. He had gotten lost. But we could NOT get Texas to pull his license.
Gypsy, I do OK myself. When humans are below a certain age, they have to be assisted, and, I suppose above a certain age we will need it too. Let us put that age up around 120, OK?
ReplyDeleteBen, I have a great sense of direction in the woods and can walk all day and come right back to the car. I do get mixed up sometimes when driving. All sorts of things can mess you up, like being on a strange road and in the wrong lane for an exit. I was in the right lane expecting an exit to the right and there was a sign that it was a left lane exit. In heavy traffic you can’t change over 4 or 5 lanes quickly.
I watched a movie on Net Flix yesterday. It took a half hour before I finally realized that I had seen it previously. Even worse, I didn't remember the ending either. Who knows how long it will be before I start telling the same joke every day and laughing at it like I just heard it!
ReplyDeleteToward the end of his life, my father had a bunch of one car accidents and finally sold his car. I stopped by to visit him just as his old car drove out of sight.
He stared at the car as it drove away and continued to stare in the general direction that the car had driven away in. He stood there like that for a while.
He turned toward me and said, "Its quite a sad feeling when your car drives away, knowing you'll never drive again!"
I was struck with empathy, shocked into realizing that this same thing awaits me, someday.
Ernest, that would have had to have been a really sad moment. BTW, I told the story before about going the wrong way, but figured most readers didn't read it or forgot.
ReplyDeleteGood thinking Dick,
ReplyDeleteHey, we had a 10' rain here last week. Not hardly worth mentioning.
ReplyDelete