The problem is not the mind. The mind is fine. It’s the body. It is slowing down. The joints are getting stiffer. I can’t bend as easily as I used to. But hey I’m looking forward to getting my own gopher. You know those three wheeled motorised vehicles that a lot of Australian oldies are using. Susan used to have one and they are such fun!! I can just imagine me, with my ipod blaring, a fox tail swinging in the breeze (or something else a bit more Australian and politically correct), going shopping, shooting the breeze with the other oldies in their gopher at the shops, going to the pub, taking my dawg for a walk. You can imagine the sight. All these wrinklies shooting the breeze, maybe even a tinny in their hands. I can just see the laws changing. Old people who drive gophers have to wear crash helmets!! Or maybe, breathalysers for gopher drivers!!

 I plan on growing old disgracefully.

 I enjoy working, and am looking forward to retiring. I love my job but there’s not enough time to do all the other things I want to do with my life. I want to learn to ride a motorbike. That’s the plan for my 60^th birthday. I am planning on having my 90^th birthday on top of the Eiffel Tower. Don’t know why. But that just sounds like a great idea!! Course the problem could be getting all those ancient people up on top of the Eiffel Tower. But, again, could be good for a laugh.

 I plan on growing old disgracefully.

 I would have much more time for my writing, you never know, I might even have a book in there somewhere.  I could spend my days blogging. Now that would be a laugh. So many things I want to do. How can people become depressed with the thought of getting old. My children have left home. I’ve got no one to bother about. I can come and go as I please. I can eat when I want to. I can go out when I want to. Don’t have a lot of money, but, hey, lots of things are free or cheap.

 I plan on growing old disgracefully.

 Think about my miniatures. I could sell them on Ebay. Now there’s a change that will probably come in. Ebay income is declarable. Have to declare it on your income tax. Cause all us oldies, who love computers just might make some cash and have some spare $$ to spend. Now Centrelink wouldn’t like that. Probably will be a way around it. Wait and see.

 I plan on growing old disgracefully.

 I can write silly pieces of work like this one. I will let my imagination run riot. Just like I am tonight. I might even get an internet boyfriend and have cybersex at 80. Ooooooohhhhh!! Now that’s a scary thought.

 I plan on growing old disgracefully.

 If I can be this silly at 59, imagine what I could do at 89. Laughter is something no amount of ageing can take away. The body may stiffen and slow down. Even the old brain can slow down, forget things. But hey, a laugh is a laugh and I can’t ever imagine losing my sense of humour. If I ever lose that I will stop growing old disgracefully and find a way to die disgracefully.

 Madeleine

Sunday, 11 September 2005

 Comments

This is fun. You write some silly stuff and the next thing you know your friends are being just as silly.

Here's Ken's comments:

I love your writing style and the way you have fun expressing yourself that way. I thought your piece on getting old was funny, especially the way you kept affirming the "I am growing old disgracefully" bit. It's so You!

 If I joined you in the buggy gang, (will you have 'colours' like the bikies wear on their leather jackets?) I might have to get one with an esky in it and maybe hot the motor up a bit. That's a male thing I think, just to feel as though I might have a big one for my ego's sake.

 We could go on runs down to the Galleria and run over a few teenagers feet and take over the coffee shop laughing and getting cappuccino froth all over our faces. Other people might leave cause of our disgusting burping and farting in the alfresco area. I hope so! Maybe we could get on the news by starting a blackmarket distribution of Viagra, Ginko Bloba and arthritic medication so those other oldies in need get what they want. The possibilities are funny and endless for growing old disgracefully.
Have a good day

 Kenno
Thanks Ken.
Thursday 15 September 2005

Adding to this a number of months later. I am much closer to my 60^th birthday now than when I first wrote this. I am doing a Photoshop course and loving it. Next term I want to do a digital photography course. Damn. So many things still to learn.

 I’m not sure I’m going to do the motorcycle thing when I turn 60. The closer I get, the more nervous I get about it. That’s the nice thing about dreams. You can change them at any time you want.

 My mind is still so incredibly active. The world is still an exciting place to be. I simply cannot understand how some people see their world coming to an end simply because they are getting on in years, chronologically. Live still holds so much more to live for, so many things to learn, places to visit, friends to meet.

 Whatever may change over the next 30 years, one thing will probably stay the same.

 I plan on growing old disgracefully.

 
 Madeleine

Monday, 29 May 2006

 I don’t know why this came into my mind this morning. Maybe I was dreaming, maybe it’s just time to write it.

 
What is more important, quality of life, or quantity of life?

 
Most people would say – quality. But what happens when they were faced with the reality. If your husband, wife, mother, father, child were in a coma, had no chance of recovery would you say – “turn off the life support systems”. Using their head thinking, many people would say: “Turn off the support systems, let the person die. They have no quality of life. Without quality, there is no point in living.”

 The reasons for not letting someone go are really quite selfish reasons – I’m not ready to say goodbye to you. I don’t want to live my life without you. So I will make you live, even as a vegetable, even when you have no quality of life -  so I can hang onto my hope. I can see signs of life in you because I want to. I’m not ready to let go. I believe it is wrong for you to die and for me to let you die, so I will not let you go. I am in control of your life. I know what you want.

 The reasons for turning off life support systems are  also be quite selfish – I’m tired of looking after you. I’ve had enough of our life together. I need a break from you. I have no life because of you.

 These decisions are not as much about the person who is dying as those who will be left behind. For all people say, this is the best for my mother/father/daughter, no one can say what is the best for another individual. They can only say what is the best for themselves.

 We see a lot of media stories about people who choose to die; others who stop a family member from dying. Stories about people who are glad they didn’t kill themselves. When outside influences become involved (usually the media and/or right to lifers), then the decision becomes more emotive and difficult for the family. These outside influences have no idea of the reality of the situation for the family who has to make the decision.

 I was lucky. I didn’t have to make that decision for my daughter. However, I did make a no resuscitation order to be put on her file. Was this an easy decision to make? No, it wasn’t. But I believed that my daughter’s body was deciding it was time to die. Did I tell my daughter it was okay for her to go? Yes, I did. Did I, in these two actions, hasten my daughter’s death? I don’t know. Quite possibly. Was it the right decision? Yes, I firmly believe it was the right decision and almost 8 years later, I have no regrets.

 Would I have been able to say: “Turn off the life support” for my daughter. I hope I would. I hope that my own personal grief in losing her would not stop me from doing what seemed to have been the best for her. Susan had no quality of life left. She was sick. She was tired. She was virtually living in the hospital. That is no life for anyone.

 And I hope, that should I be in that situation, that someone will make that decision for me and turn off my life support systems. I do not want my family and friends to live with that level of unrealistic hope that someday, someway a cure will be found. I want my family and friends to accept the reality of my death and to move on in their lives.

 Madeleine

Thursday, 18 May 2006

The Weekly News is running a Mother's Day contest for both Mother's and their kids.

 A. Wallace  (What to do in New York) will be putting out a special mother’s day issue next week and is running a contest on his web page (The Weekly News)

 
General description.
”I will be designing a page devoted to mothers. The winning entry will be featured (in full text and photo, if provided) as the main area. Only the winning entry will be featured in full text and with photo. All others will be text only and readable through hyper link only.

It is more of a contest to allow everyone to acknowledge their mother and let their mom be number one with our readers.”

Entries are still needed. There are still a few days left to enter. Send in your entries now.

 
Madeleine

Monday, 15 May 2006

You might wonder what this photo means.

 I was out in the garden this morning, and in the garden bed, I spotted this:

  Yes, these are some of my socks. I have a drawer full of single socks. I have often wondered why my socks keep disappearing and I am starting to get the idea of what is happening.

 When I come home from work, there are two items of clothing that are removed first. The first one, most women will know without me having to say anything. The second is shoes and, in the winter, socks. Being me, they all just get dropped on the floor. Over the last few weeks, I have found a number of my socks in the garden. Well, when I confront Ally the dawg about it, she hangs her head and lets me know, as only a little black dawg can, that she is the culprit.

 So part of this morning has been doing a sock search in the garden. Only found 2, but I am sure there are more out there.

 I wonder, do socks grow in the garden?

 Does this mean I could have a sock tree in the near future?

 I wonder if you can pick your colour and size from a sock tree?

 What an interesting thought.

 Madeleine

Saturday, 13 May 2006

This has taken me a while to post. Sorry Ross. But here is the post I promised.

I was talking to my DIS (daughter in sin) today and got an blogstream email. I read it, and looked at it again – remembering that I am not as young as I used to be and doing more than one thing at once does tax the old brain a bit. The email was from someone called Ross.

 
Being Blogstream, I was trying to think of who Ross might be. Then I read the first message. It was about a computer question I had asked ages ago. I thought about it, remembered the post. And thought. Okay. Someone has just read that old thing. Went onto the next comment. It was from this same Ross guy. And he said: “I have some digital versions of your mother's slides if you are interested.”
 

Well you could have knocked me down with a feather. The only Ross I know who might have digital versions of my mother’s slides (unless this guy’s a real whacko !!) is my nephew Ross. One of my sister’s sons.

 
So hey Ross. Good to catch up with you. I haven’t seen you since I was taller than you. I’ve seen photos of you, thanks to your mother. I guess one of the last times I would have seen you would have been around 1970 before I came to Australia.

Here he is

Wasn’t he a cutie !!

Ross was 6 and I was 22.

 If Ross wants to say anything else about himself, I will leave that up to him.

Madeleine

Sunday, 5 March 2006