Growing Old...

I've had much of this post floating around in my head for several months now, but have been having a hard time writing it.  It's a difficult topic, no one really wants to think about it let alone talk about it.  Yet we all know that it's inevitable... we will eventually grow old and die.

My Grandma recently passed away and while I was helping to care for her before she did, it got me thinking about growing old.  Seeing her at the end of her life made me think about when other loved ones will pass, like my own Dad, and eventually it'll be me and my husband at that point.

It made me realize that I want to have everything in place and all taken care of for when it does happen.  In addition to senior life insurance of course, I also specifically want to have burial insurance for seniors to cover the cost of the funeral.  I don't want our children to have to worry about any expenses on top of the stress and emotions they'll already be feeling.

A typical funeral can cost between $5,000 and $10,000, depending on the kind of service and the choice of casket and funeral plot. Even for people that have life insurance policies, these costs can create a great burden that can add onto the stress of losing a loved one.

Dealing with the death of a loved one is never easy, but I want to make it as easy as it can possibly be.  I don't want to put my kids in debt trying to give me a proper burial.  I know the inevitable is coming, but in the meantime I can live my life to the fullest and be sure to utilize a site like BurialInsurance.org when my husband and I get to the 'senior' age.


Disclosure Policy

You will be missed Grandma...

I've known this post was coming for some time now, that still doesn't make it any easier now that it's here.  A wonderful woman took her last breath in this world and passed away yesterday... that woman was my grandmother.

This is her on her 90th Birthday

7.3.1918 ~ 1.28.2011

She died at the age of 92... her body just couldn't go on anymore.  A few weeks before, as I helped her into bed one night, she had said to me, "I'm fighting something that can't be won".  And she was right of course, none of us can live forever here on Earth.

She knew she was near the end and so did those around her.  She was at the point of needing around the clock care.  Thursday evening she had just been sent home from the hospital, this time because there was nothing more they could do for her.  She was sent home to live out the rest of her days as comfortably as possible.

That night I stayed at her house... she slept so peacefully.  I remember thinking as I got ready for bed in the spare room, how my grandma was the one who had taught me how to make a bed, the proper way, all those years ago when I was just a girl.

I remembered having sleep-overs, in that very bed, my sisters and I staying the night at Grandma's house.  We would stay up late reading the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books she had in the bookcase headboard.  One morning we had Rice Krispies for breakfast, I sneezed and my cereal flew out of my bowl and across the table... we all had such a laugh over that!

My dad and grandma- Aug. 2010

 My grandma with me and my girls

My grandma lived a long life, with lots of people that loved her very much.  She will be dearly missed.  May you rest in peace Grandma... and tell Grandpa and my mom hello.

Important Weekend (9/11 & 9/12) and a trip to New York

Sept. 11- the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center

 

Two Thousand One, Nine Eleven

Written by:

Paul Spreadbury, York Beach, ME

Two thousand one, nine eleven

Five thousand plus arrive in heaven

As they pass through the gate,

Thousands more appear in wait.

A tall bearded man,

wearing a stovepipe hat

steps forward and greets them,

Then says, "Lets chat".

They settle down in seats of clouds

A man named Martin shouts out proud

"I have a dream!" and once he did

The Newcomer says, "Your dream still lives."

Groups of soldiers in blue and gray

Others in khaki, and green then say

"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"

The Newcomer says, "You died not in vain."

From a man on sticks one could hear

"The only thing we have to fear.

The Newcomer says, "We know the rest,

trust us sir, we've passed that test."

A man with a twang from New England shores

Then proclaimed in a voice they had all heard before

"Courage like yours does not hide in caves

You can't bury freedom, in a grave,"

A silence fell within the mist

Somehow the Newcomer knew that this

Meant time had come for her to say

What was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day

"In the land of the living, we wrote reports,

Watched our children play in sports

Worked our gardens, sang our songs

Went to church and clipped coupons

We smiled, we laughed,

we cried, we fought

Unlike you, great we're not"

The tall man in the stovepipe hat

Stood and said, "don't talk like that!

Look at your country, look and see

You died for freedom, just like me"

Then, before them all appeared a scene

Of ruined streets and twisted beams

Death, destruction, rubble and dust

And people working just 'cause they must

Hauling ash,

lifting stones,

Knee deep in hell

But not alone

"Look! Blackman, whiteman, brownman, and yellow

Side by side helping their fellow!"

So said Martin, as he watched the scene

"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."

Down below three firemen raised

The colors high into ashen haze

The soldiers above had seen it before

On Iwo Jima back in '44

The man on sticks studied everything closely

Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly

"I see pain, I see tears,

I see sorrow - but I don't

              see fear."

"You left behind husbands and wives

Daughters and sons and so many lives

are suffering now because of this wrong

But look very closely. You're not really gone.

All of those people, even those you've never met

All of their lives, they'll never forget

Don't you see what has happened?

Don't you see what you've done?

You've brought them together, together as one.

The man named Abe stood and said

"Welcome my friends," and from there he led,

five thousand Newcomers, all heroes to heaven

On this day of our Lord, two thousand one nine eleven.

Sept. 12th- Grandparent's Day
We had a nice visit with one set of grandparent's on Sunday.  My girls love when they come to visit since they live 2 hours away and we don't see them often.  The girls made a card for them that they colored and my 5 yr. old wrote the words and drew some hearts and flowers.  It was also neat for me because Grandma had just gotten back from a trip to New York and told me about the experience of being there on 9/11 (gave me goosebumps to hear about it).

Now I'm gearing up for a week away from my husband, but it's not me that's taking the trip... he's headed to New York for job training.  I don't think he'll have a chance to do much sightseeing since it's work-related, and he's going to be on the other side of the state so nowhere near New York City, but hey- it's still New York.  I've actually never been to New York but would love to go someday...