I read this first thing this morning, and I thought that I had given it a ROUSING round of applause and a comment from the mobile app! Well, glad I came back to remedy the technical chasm all that fell into!

Maybe it's the holidays - we're all having similar conversations. We do plan to see family at both Thanksgiving and at Christmas. My daughter was saying last night how they are looking forward to coming but don't want to kill anyone. We talked for a while, and all of us are taking all reasonable (and probably a few over-the-top) precautions. I told her she can't think like that - and better her than the sacker at the grocery store. I mean, I'd value her visit much more than his jumbling of my pantry items!

I remember having this epiphany, once, as a young adult - my grandmother was getting just a LITTLE bit testy with me and bristling at my offers to help out by doing her laundry (to do the washing, she had to navigate a steep set of cellar stairs and was sure to break her neck and both hips if she fell down them - anyone would be!) I realized in a flash that we cannot treat our elders like precious porcelain dolls to be kept in a China cabinet. Offer, then back the HELL off. ;) I also realized, in the same moment, that I would one day BE her. And I would take out of this world any offspring of mine that tried to control me or treat me like I was frail or childlike. Offer help? Absolutely. Press the point? Oh, no you don't, kiddo...

I listen to people my age navigating the space between these two worlds, and I sometimes dread getting old. It's funny NOW, while I can still hit 'em with my cane...