Final Blog Posting

During the reading Professor Liberman talks about his mother's resistance to wanting to move to Orlando and change her living conditions once again. She wanted to live independently. That is something we did not have to battle with in regards to my grandmother. She was very slow to move her things and in fact did not do any of the packing. My mom, sister, and dad had to make multiple strips down to Miami to pack up her apartment and move her closer to Tampa. He discussed how at one point his mom was getting in the middle of him and his marriage. I have seen how this can happen because sometimes my dad does not always agree with how my grandmother handles situations. He thinks that she uses my mom a lot and does not think she is as "feeble" as she plays out to be. At one point in time my grandmother was staying at the house with them and I know my dad was getting tired of it. My mom was growing weary as well, but I could tell it was affecting their relationship.

My grandmother decided a little while ago it was not a good idea for her to be on the roads. She had been in an accident and I don't think she was confident in her driving skills anymore. It was a responsible decision on her part and I am glad she did it. She was able to arrange for transportation services when she needed to go somewhere. Her car is currently in my parents care. This course has been very intuitive to me and how I relate to my grandmother. Thank God my parents are not yet at that stage in life, but I know when that day comes I will be able to handle it..even if I really don't want to.

Fourth Blog Posting

In recommendation #29 professor :Liberman talked about his mother's move to Florida and how she felt so unhappy because she no longer had her circle of friends. I can't even imagine how that feels to know you are growing older and getting closer and closer to death because all your friends are dying off. It must be a horrible feeling...very lonely. I think that is why it is so important to have family around the elderly so that they still have a support system. If they have their grand kids around it may help them to forget about the sadness they feel because they will see the joy in their grandchildren. Through reading the recommendations it was nice to see that his mother remained pretty active. I wish I could say the same for my grandmother (my mom's mother). She is very sedentary and we know that is not a good thing. My granny however (my dad's mom) is pretty active and I am proud of her for that. She has a lot of things she wants to accomplish.

Isn't it something how the parents acts as the child and the child acts as the parent. I have been able to watch and notice it first hand. The body is a mysterious complex machine and it amazes me how much it changes through the years. In recommendation #36 he stressed patience. Patience is so important when you are dealing with an elderly parents especially when they move slow, have many doctors appointments, have to be reminded to take medicine, and so on and so on. It can be hard to remain patient. I know my mom gets tired sometimes and even when I have been home for just the weekend it tired me down. My mom is with her pretty much 24/7. Its hard and it really needs to be more than one person involved.

Third Blog Posting

I think that it is important to have your will and everything else set in place for your loved ones. However it is such a difficult and sad topic I would not want to bring it up let alone discuss it with a parent or grandparent. Dr. Liberman made the comment that "we had virtually no decisions to make during the very sad and emotionally draining period following Mother’s death and that was a blessing that was fulfilled simultaneously with sadness and satisfaction". It must make it a lot easier to deal with grieving when you know all the affairs are in order and to their liking. I think it puts more strain on the family when they have to rush to get all the funeral services, who gets what, and so on together. Reading about financial management of the elderly made me think about my future. I really need to crack down on saving and possibly get some advice from an expert to help me with it. I have wanted to invest in stocks and bonds for a couple years now I just know nothing about the market to do so. I have also heard it is good to have an IRA account and my mom always tells me to save my money! I hear it more times than I want to, but that's what moms are for.

Second Blog Posting

I have a lot to say about recommendation #3. I totally agree with it and wish my mom (along with some other families) members would read it. We (mostly my mom) are now in the process of taking care of my grandmother and I feel like she caters to her way too mmuch. I don't like to do certain things for her when she can do it herself. I feel like it makes her even more handicap. I think that doing everything for her is treating her as if she were a baby and she is not. I know once you get older you sort of revert back, but I still don't think it is a good idea to treat the elderly like kids. I also like recommendation #4 because I try to do it sometimes with my grandmother. I like to ask her about her brothers, parents, and how she grew up. Not only does it jog her memory, but it's fun for me to learn about the family I never knew. I think she enjoys talking about the past and what she used to do. I find it interesting that long term memory is better than short term memory...at times. I can identify with recommendation #6 because I wish there was someone else closer to Tampa that could help take care of my grandmother. My uncle is way up north and barely keeps in touch and everyone else that my grandmother knows lives in Miami or Georgia. I know it is a lot of pressure on my mom and unfortunately with me living away from home and being in school there is only so much I can do.

First Blog Posting

In this first blog I was able to read up until Chapter 2.  My favorite quote from that whole passage is ", the past often is a prologue for the future". I really believe that. When you think back on things that have happened t you in the past and connect it to what is happening to you now it makes sense. This thought always comes to my mind "so that's why that happened". I am a firm believer in everything happening for a reason. That reason may not be known at that point in time, but it eventually will come around. I enjoyed reading about how persistent Professor Liberman's mom was in his early years. To me it is just something that moms' do when they feel something is good for you and in the end that extra push did have a great effect on you. Reading the passage made me think of what my parents forced me to do when I was younger. My mom wanted me to try new things such as ballet, dance, cheer leading, karate. None of these I enjoyed, but when I think on it I wish I would have stuck with karate because now it is something I would like to try. I was never into cheer leading because I thought it was too "girly" and typical of a young girl to participate in. My thing was soccer and I really liked it. I absolutely agree with Professor Liberman when he says we owe our parents a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. My parents have done a lot for me and I could only wish that one day I would be able to show my appreciation.