The Golden Years

I remember as a youngin the elders sitting in their rockers on the front porch in the evenings discussing events of their days.
These were not my blood family members but the neighbors who did not object to a kid from the house down the road who enjoyed hearing the old stories they all told.

Now I knew even back then that a few of those stories by the elder men were purely made up to see my reaction and to get a few of the old crones to admonish them for telling tales.
From snake wrangling to crossing a few deep rivers to clearing the garden plots and discovering arrow heads to finding the missing buckle of the harness from 2 years ago, yes I enjoyed them all.

What I most enjoyed was the feeling of being accepted as a human.
These were the days long before the a/c came along and folks all were outside in the evenings.
We had generational living then also, folks did not put their elderly families away from them.
I don't know when I first started hearing about Dementia and Alzheimer but am sure since we still had state hospitals that it occurred, it just wasn't talked about, well at least I never heard about it till long years after I had started my own family.

With so much changing in my life as I grow older and things being out of my control, I am left wondering where I fit in within humanity anymore.

Have I outlived being useful?

I have days when I don't have a free moment to think and when I slow down and sit for more than a couple of minutes I fall asleep in my chair.
I miss having babies all around me, I miss having family of my own near me.
The old term Melancholy describes some of it but not the loss of family that because to most you are just to old to be of a benefit to them.
What the hell happened to this world that the norm is to shove folks aside and call them of no benefit with nothing of value to them....

Do you see it also?
What steps can be taken to get back to being human?

Chime in and talk about it....