Comments on: Another visit: The third floor chorus

By: stagnant

stagnant — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:36:09 +0000

You’re not following me on Twitter so I’ll post my reply here to your old blogs question. My short answer is a big YES but they didn’t call them “blogs” back then.

Great entry on your father. This one was particularly touching and moved some part of my humanity. Thanks also for reminding me of my own mortality and how it will all be basically nothing one day.

Also some great cat pictures. Personally I prefer iLind but you present a good case. I just find that names that start off with “Hawaii” sound kind of generic because there are so many.

My two cents.

By: Lora

Lora — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:24:09 +0000

Thank you, Ian, for articulating this situation so well. Like many others I’m sure, I couldn’t help but picture my own father’s nursing home, his bed neighbors and the men at his designated dining table. Their sounds, their visages and the nurses all came to mind. The nurses were so upset when my father died, that I brought them all small mementos of my father later the day he died.

By: Dean

Dean — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:07:14 +0000

Thanks, Ian, for sharing this.

As painful as it is, it’s a valuable account of what many of us go through when we see a parent age and become less vital.

It’s a tough process and must be even tougher to write about. Especially as prosaically as you.

I often remind myself to try to see an older person as they once were, because that’s how they often see themselves. It brings a different level of respect for that person within myself.

My wife’s dad slowly slipped away into the darkness of Alzheimers. But I’d listen to his repeated stories, trying to see what he saw in his world, and pick up a few more details about what it was like back then.

It’s an awful way to come to the end of a life. But we don’t have much of a choice. All we can do is to make the most of it, as you are.