Aging is a state of mind, its what you make of it that determines how you feel about aging. During our younger years we never address the fact that we are all aging. For most people the idea of aging is frightening. Everyone ages at different rates and times depending on the person and experiences in their lives. Tons of research has been done on the idea of different types of aging: chronological age vs. functional age. Chronological age is the number of years a person has lived while functional age is based on how people look and what they can do; a person becomes old when he or she can no longer perform the major roles of adulthood (book).
To get a better understanding of how a person 60 and older feels about aging I conducted an interview with my mother. My mother will be 66 in November and for the purpose of this interview I will refer to her as Kathy. Kathy is the 2nd born child with one, now deceased older brother and three younger siblings: one sister and two brothers, all who grew up in Hackensack, NJ. Kathy married young had one daughter later in life and worked as an administrative assistant until she retired. She graduated from a Catholic high school with no further higher education. She currently lives with her boyfriend who is 10 years her senior in a cabin in West Jefferson, NC.
The first question I asked Kathy was, define “older …show more content…
I would like to be able to live in my own home even after I retire and have a strong support system until I can’t care for the house or myself any longer. Once I get to that point I would like to have the option living with my son and if needed be able to afford a home health care program so all the burden wouldn’t be on my family instead of a nursing home. I have always said if I did get Alzheimer’s I would want to have the option of the “right to die” where I can pass away on my own time and
To get a better understanding of how a person 60 and older feels about aging I conducted an interview with my mother. My mother will be 66 in November and for the purpose of this interview I will refer to her as Kathy. Kathy is the 2nd born child with one, now deceased older brother and three younger siblings: one sister and two brothers, all who grew up in Hackensack, NJ. Kathy married young had one daughter later in life and worked as an administrative assistant until she retired. She graduated from a Catholic high school with no further higher education. She currently lives with her boyfriend who is 10 years her senior in a cabin in West Jefferson, NC.
The first question I asked Kathy was, define “older …show more content…
I would like to be able to live in my own home even after I retire and have a strong support system until I can’t care for the house or myself any longer. Once I get to that point I would like to have the option living with my son and if needed be able to afford a home health care program so all the burden wouldn’t be on my family instead of a nursing home. I have always said if I did get Alzheimer’s I would want to have the option of the “right to die” where I can pass away on my own time and