There is an African saying that says "it takes a village to raise a child," but in reality it takes a village to get through life and our senior years can be our most challenging.
Being alone or even feeling alone as a youth doesn't compare to outliving your friends and family. I have a friend who is 89 years young and has no relatives that he can speak of. He never married and had no children and he moved a lot. When we are younger we say we'll get to that, but in his case he didn't. Now he lives in a nursing home, which he considers to be a death trap. He says "no one leaves walking." He lives for visits and outings which are hard at times for people with full lives, so we came up with a solution, it takes a village.
A group of us put together a face book page for our friend. On this page we are able to do a lot of things to enhance his life and to make our lives easier and free from seeming guilt. We schedule days to visit him so we know he will have company. We also arrange play dates where he can go see an exhibit or a movie or just enjoy a few hours in the park. Others give him rides to church and other fun outings that he has scheduled. We also document stories that he tells us from his life, some of which are very funny and poignant. Everyone gives as much as they can, when they can. Then we post pictures for memories which serves us all to remember the joy in celebrating life.
This process has taught us all a very powerful lesson, one being if you take care of yourself, you will become a senior one day. The second lesson is we don't have to be alone. When we are open to talking to others, we will have company. When we take the time to ask for assistance we can be assisted. I also believe if we are living a good life, which is a life where we are kind to others. A life in which we provided service to someone or to some organization, the universe will take care of you. None of were put here to be alone. We learn when we are in various forms of relationships and we are never too old to learn. When a village comes together to help one person life is a learning fulfilling experience for all.
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