C
onnecting and communicating with others can be extremely helpful to caregivers and those who have lost loved ones.
A year or so after my husband z”l died, I was determined to change what had become a very solitary, lonely lifestyle, and decided to sign up for a Zumba class. On my way to the senior citizens’ center where it was being held, I passed a surgical supply store and was faced with a depressing sight: an assortment of walkers, wheelchairs, commodes, and other devices for the elderly and infirm.
I stood transfixed in front of the store window, thinking how sad it would be to grow old without my husband at my side and how scary it felt to be enrolling in a senior citizens’ center. I had no doubts. This was a slippery slope. Projecting a few years down the road, I saw myself pushing a walker — and worse.
Finally, I shook myself out of my reverie and started toward home. There would be no Zumba classes for me. I definitely was not going to join a senior citizens’ center.
