princess paupr’s Reflections

It sort of dawned on me, that after almost 4 years of University…I can almost say being a student at Waterloo is second nature to me. Except it wasn’t always like this. I was reading back on my old blog entries, and I realize just how difficult it was, to decide what University to attend. Now, I don’t doubt my decision to that it was in God’s plan for me to be here. I can’t imagine what life would be like if I had chosen another school…but I probably would not be the person I am today. I’m so thankful that I’m in Health Studies and not a pure science program because I realized that I really don’t like science that much. I’m glad I’m in co-op because I’ve gotten to experience work struggles as well. I’m thankful for the friendships I’ve made and for those “upper-years” who made a special effort to care for me when I was a frosh.

On Thursday this week, in my Health 352 (Sociology of Aging) class, my prof showed a documentary called Bunny & Leona. The documentary was about two sisters, Bunny (her real name is Maxine) and Leona, and their struggles as they adjust to living in a nursing home and a retirement lodge, respectively. Bunny, who suffered from MS for a large part of her life, had a stroke that left her nearly paralyzed and thus, she needed complex care. Leona, who’s the older sister of Bunny, never married, but helped Bunny raise her 4 kids and she never had a life of her own. She was always with family and it was a hard transition for her to live in a retirement lodge.

But the hardest part was watching the documentary was seeing Bunny go from being one of those grannies you love - funny, sweet, optimistic, to become a recluse who’s physical condition is slowly deteriorating, and who never smiles…it really made me feel sorry for her. Although I know that for the most part, older adults age well and don’t experience drastic declines in QOL (quality of life), I’m scared of aging. I really don’t want to end up in a nursing home, where 70% of the residents have some sort of dementia. To be honest, I’d rather die young than have to be in that situation… Pretty unthankful eh? It also makes me think about how I’m going to handle my two aging parents… Although Bunny had 4 kids, none of them took them into their care because she required a level of care that they couldn’t provide. She needed help with all of her ADLs - activities of daily living, including dressing, using the bathroom, eating…

It made me want to Live my Life. Yeah, it sounds like I’m promoting American Eagle. What does that mean? I feel like I’m missing out on opportunities to really live because I’m too caught up in my fear, in general busyness with the school… “Living life to the fullest”…that’s what I want to do. Not that that means going out there and partying it up…but I guess it’s being thankful for what you have, and enjoying the moment when it’s there, smiling at it as you remember the past.  As well, I remember that Jesus said The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).  True meaning and purpose comes from living life in Christ.

Time’s a ticking…In the words of Andy Dufrense, the main character from The Shawshank Redemption (one of the greatest movies I’ve seen:P) Get busy living, or get busy dying.