Two Years in Review and other celebrations

I missed the TWO year anniversary of the About Being Old blog and I'm sad that I didn't get to do a big hurrah on that day.   Oh well. Although my time is more limited than when I first started this site and posts are few and far between, I still love having the opportunity to blog and to share the things I've learned with you all.  This week has been full of celebrating Sunday being the beginning of it.   It was my first Mother's Day (so special) and this week my baby celebrated her 1st birthday. Did I mention that my birthday is this week as well? Yes, it happens to be the big 3-0.  So when baby gets older, she can give me a gift on Mother's Day and then I can give it back to her on her bday and then she can give it back to me on my birthday.  We'll have so much fun!

Since its been two years, I thought I'd reflect some on the past two years.  Ironically, I think I only have time to reflect on two very awesome things. Thank God for it all.

I have readers! I love writing and I love writing about the things I've learned while living and working with seniors. I love being able to just write random thoughts about growing up too, but it's so much more fun and extremely encouraging to be able to share this with more than just my circle (family and friends).  The goal of this blog was really to be able to share the things I've learned with other people my age no matter who they are and it's exciting to see that other people my age and even NOT my age have read and gained some perspective/insight from the lessons I've learned.  Thus far, I've had readers all over the country, though mostly in MD, and some from even out of the country.  To date, Aboutbeingold.com has also had at least 20,000 hits, which I find really encouraging.

It's down on paper.  Whether people read these posts or not, it has been a major accomplishment to at least document some of the biggest lesson and memories that have influenced my passion for caring for the older generation.  I had been meaning to write the post "Why I Care So Much for my Grandparents" since the beginning of my blog (took me over a year to finally write it!). The same is true for the series, A Dissection of Old Age Grumpiness (Post 1, Post 2, & Post 3), and the Dignity of Risk post among others.  Just getting these written and then being able to share these thoughts was important to me.  Mission accomplished!

Thank you to all of you guys who have been reading and even more, I hope that what I share helps you at whatever place in life you may be.

About the sweetest picture ever...

Today I saw the cutest picture ever. It was of my 1 year old chubby cheeks niece and my 98 year old perfect silver haired grandma hanging out.  Uh, just melt my heart away!!!  Reminds me of when I was little and my grandma used to hold me and rock back n forth in our striped sofa rocking chair. Special moments people... have a great weekend! 

photocredit to my sister.  Navy hoodie handmedown from my little M. 

A Review of Motherhood and Growing Up

The past 11 months have been a whirlwind. Hard, tiring, busy, easy, fun, confusing and... really sweet. =) Ironically, I've found that I can be frustrated at baby while also loving her cuteness at the same time. It is possible to feel conflicting emotions at once.

This May my baby turns 1 and I turn a whopping 30. Isn't it timely that before I hit the big 3-0, I should experience motherhood some? This year has provided me a lot of insight that I guess matures me into a full grown adult.  With motherhood has come experiences that have made me think more about the adult side of things.  Scary, yes, but eye opening and healthy I think.  I am really starting to feel like I'm growing up. Aging.

What's the first year of motherhood been like for me?  (give me one more month and I can show off my certificate!) Here are just a few thoughts for now:

I get to play with toys again. Despite the tiring hours of work, the clingy baby, the beginning of tantrums and crying, the poopy diapers and more, one of my favorite things about being a mom is that I get to play again. I am a kid at heart, but with age, it seems like we sometimes are so overwhelmed with responsibilities and there is little room left to play.  Maybe I'm the only one, but I consider it a perk to get to play with cool toys and read children's books again.  I know Maddie loves the Children section of the library; I LOVE it!  They have puzzles and books that are way larger than adult books, books with large print, a colored carpet so you can sit on the ground and read, toys??!  Really, being a child is fun. But being a child's parent is even funner.

My mother did a lot of work for me.  The big lesson learned after the first few weeks of caring for an infant was that my mom did a WHOLE lot of work for me.  Before entering motherhood, I honestly thought the hard work that my mom did mainly involved discipline. She forced me to practice piano when I didn't want to. She made sure I did my homework. She cooked for us.  She worked and made money to help support our family.  That was what I thanked her for on Mother's Day.  But until this year, I had no idea that mothering a baby required feeding all the time, waking up at random times during the night for colds, congestion, itchiness, who knows what.  I had no idea it meant I had to pack and think really hard before I would go to the zoo, or even to the store.  I had no idea it meant I would have a baby wiping her dirty hands and snot on my clothes all the time.  I didn't think about the work involved in cutting all food into little pieces. Or having to puree everything.  With each day, I'm realizing the little and big things that my mom did for me. Believe me, every time I breathe a tired sigh or roll my eyesball silently because baby is fussing, I think about my mom.  Thank you thank you and God bless you 1000 times.

Something Sweet

Two cuties hanging out. So sweet!

What Its Like - Living with Grandparents/Parents

Pictures and blogging are the only way I can describe what life is like living with and caring for a grandparent. I usually portray the joys; sometimes I touch on frustrations.  When living with my grandparents, I used to kiss them before bed every night (shh... even after college=)). Don't be fooled guys because in addition to kisses, there were times I got fed up and yelled at them too.

I don't have the talent to document through video, but I recently came across this amazing documentary called The Sandwich Generation by Julie Winokur and her husband, Ed Kashi, that embraces so much of what life is like living with with an older person.  Though my grandparents are/were so healthy and did not have advanced dementia like Julie's father did, I completely identify with Julie and Ed's children.    My two sisters and I were one bread slice and my grandparents were the other that smushed my parents to stress and exhaustion. As years have passed and I have a baby of my own (can't believe it), I still care for my grandma, which can make me, as young as I am, feel smushed at times too.

The Sandwich Generation has been featured on Good Morning America, National Geographic Magazine, MSNBC, AARP and rightfully has won awards for its work.  Julie has given me permission to share her trailer on my blog (Thank you Julie!). Check out the rest (which is really good) at Talking Eyes Media. It gives you perspective into their life, my life and possibly yours in the coming decades.


The Sandwich Generation - Trailer from Talking Eyes Media on Vimeo.

A Dissection of Old Age Grumpiness - Culprit #3

It's been a busy month!  I've been pondering how much longer to continue this series because the number of things that can cause one to become grumpy can potentially be endlesssss. I've already talked about two other possible culprits (#1 and #2) and I thought of another one just the other day that must be mentioned. Let's just dive in, shall we??

A Dissection of Old Age Grumpiness - Culprit #2

If you're wondering why old people might be grumpy, don't assume it's because they are old.  Consider if the person is in pain as I wrote in my last post and if its not that, then stay with me as we discuss a few other culprits.

When I think of my grandparents and other elderly that I know, I somehow think that they were always old.   I've never seen them with black hair or playing active sports in their youth. Hmm... I guess the truth is that they were once teenagers itching for freedom.  They once wondered about their future mates, and they were once 29 turning 30 at one point in time (hint hint, someone's big 3-0 is coming up in a few months).