Hi, Everyone. On my way to the Caregiver forum from Mayo, I decided on a side trip to the Aging forum. I am 87 and care for my 94-year-old husband and have personal experience with aging from many perspectives. If you do not have dementia, you have already won the jackpot. I use a walker and carry a heavy load as a caretaker, but I have a sharp mind that allows me to figure out strategies to improve our lives. My best advice is to look ahead not as a long slog that will never be filled with what went before but with possibilities of new things. In my spare moments, I write and do art projects that fill my soul with more than duty. It is not unnatural to lose friends and feel isolated. So I have clung tenaciously to a writers' group whose meeting I can no longer attend regularly, but still go to on a when-I-can basis. The young people who clean our home have become friends. While taking care of what I can't they have freed me up to do paperwork that I must. Meals-on-Wheels bring food and a daily hello. What I am trying to say is life is always in flux. Keep as busy as you can to make your here-and-now interesting. We do live in the age of the internet where How-tos, information, and entertainment are just a click away.
Beyond a crystal ball, none of us knows about the future. Do not ruin the present by mourning for the past, which, if we are honest, probably had its challenges also. GloRo