Elder Life Planning News    Volume 1, Issue 1

         Contents           


Therefore take the decision right now that you must live as a full-grown person, as one who is making progress; and all that appears to be best must be to you a law that cannot be transgressed. And if you are confronted with a hard task or with something pleasant, or with something held in high repute or no repute, remember that the contest is now, and that the Olympic games are now, and that it is no longer possible to delay the match, and that progress is lost and saved as a result of one defeat and even one moment of giving in." 
Epictetus (Circa 60 AD) Discourses 1.4.13—17, 1.18.21—3, 1.24.1—2 and 3.25.3)



Pondering Old Age

How do I know that my youth is all spent? 
Well, my get up and go has got up and went. 
But in spite of it all I am able to grin 
when I recall where my get up has been.

Old age is golden-so I've heard it said- 
but sometimes I wonder when I get into bed, 
with my ears in a drawer and my teeth in a cup, 
my eyes on the table until I wake up.

Ere sleep dims my eyes I say to myself, 
"Is there anything else I should lay on the shelf?" 
And I'm happy to say as I close my door, 
my friends are the same, perhaps even more.

When I was young, my slippers were red, 
I could pick up my heels right over my head. 
When I grew older, my slippers were blue, 
but still I could dance the whole night through.

But now I am old, my slippers are black, 
I walk to the store and puff my way back. 
The reason I know my youth is all spent, 
my get up and go has got up and went.

But I really don't mind when I think, with a grin, 
of all the grand places my get up has been. 
Since I have retired from life's competition, 
I accommodate myself with complete repetition.

I get up each morning, and dust off my wits, 
pick up my paper and read the "obits". 
If my name is missing, I know I'm not dead, 
so I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed.


Mystery of the ancients

Informed Eldercare Decisions, Inc. Specialists in Elder Care Planning and Long Term Care