More Community Building

 

Photo by Wren aka KDA

My WOTY (word of the year) for 2024 was "Community." However, I am still very focused on connecting with people in my new county.  In fact, I am obsessed with building bonds with a number of institutions and a number of people. 

It is challenging to move in your 60s. It's even more challenging to move to a rural area where many people my age are not open to forming new connections. Many women my age here already have their daughters, their daughters in law, and their best friends from elementary school. They do not have any time (nor the inclination) to connect with new people. I would probably be the same way if I had deep roots in my town. 

Nevertheless, I am spending a lot of time working to connect with people formally and informally. 

Dementia: Personal Experience

 

Image by Abhijit Bhaduri
via Creative Commons 

When I was pursuing my master's program in gerontology between 2010 and 2013, I decided to focus on issue of cognition and aging. My understanding of age-related causes of aging was very academic. Yes, I did volunteer at a multi-level care center for five years, but that pales in comparison with having a relative living with significant cognitive challenges. 

Cognitive Overload

 

Photo by Michael Reuter
via Creative Commons

A few months after I moved from Indiana to Utah, I started carrying a clear, plastic stadium purse? Why?  I kept losing my phone and my keys. I am in my early 60s, so some might assume that I am showing signs of dementia. However, I have another hypothesis. 

I have been experiencing cognitive overload. 

I was trying to manage too many new situations at once, and my brain could not process all of the demands: 

Tom Lake: Book Review

 

Published 1 Aug 2023

Oh, Tom Lake was a quiet yet powerful narrative. I am crying softly because Ann Patchett did such a good job weaving together characters, images, setting, and themes.

I am a middle aged woman, and this is a book about Lara, a middle aged woman, taking an inventory of her life by doing an oral life review for her three daughters. It's about the choices we make in life--particularly when we are in our 20s--and how those choices set us on a path for the decades to come.