Thursday, January 5, 2012

Generativity vs. Stagnation

Is has been awhile since I have written.  I apologize.  I did not have much to say.  Now I do.  For those of you who know me fairly well, you probably know that my grandfather fell, broke a hip, and is in the hospital.  You also may know that I was the only family member in town other than my grandmother available to help deal with this situation.  I am in my last week of vacation from school and so fortunately I had time to spend with grandma, at the hospital, helping.  I don't regret a minute of it.  Grandpa had surgery on Tuesday to replace the ball joint that holds the hip in the socket.  His surgeon, whom I have nicknamed Dr. McDreamy, was freaking gorgeous AND the nicest man on the planet.  That's a completely different blog entry though.

Anyway, grandpa is not really recovering very well from surgery.  He is 87 years old and has been sitting in a chair, not using his body or his mind in any way at all for the past ten years.  If you don't use it, you lose it.  If this sounds judgemental, its not.  It has been a huge eye-opening experience for me.  Because now it is too late for him to get his body in the kind of physical and mental shape that can handle this kind of major surgery.  But 10 years ago, when, according to Erickson's stages of development, he decided to become stagnant rather than move forward, it was not too late.  Was it a conscious decision?  Of course not.  You know better, you do better, and honestly I do not think he knew.  But I do know better.  That's the thing.  I know how important it is now to exercise and take care of my body.  I know how important it is to continue to learn new things in order to keep my mind in tip top shape.  Every minute I sit in my Forever Lazy on the couch watching television instead of doing the things that I need to do to be healthy, I am making a choice, the same one grandpa made.  But I know better.

Peace out.


1 comment:

  1. i love your blog and missed it. i'm so sorry to hear about your grandpa but what a good lesson for all of us. i hope you get some relaxation on your vacation and time to do those things you love to do!

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