Friday, October 24, 2008

The Drooping Heart

I have worked in an Assisted Living Facility, often referred to as an ALF, for the past 14 months. We have about 90 people living there along with about 40 in our skilled nursing and long term care facility, plus ICF. It amounts to people whose average age is around 85.5 years old. Naturally, these are those people who were born before the Korean war, before World War II, before the depression and mostly, before prohibition. Some, were born before World War I.
But, there is a new generation coming to the nursing home. In the next 10 to 20 years, more and more of the "baby boomers" will find their way into facilities like the one where I am presently employed. What might be rather cute will be the number of sagging tattoos that might be present upon the bodies of those men and women who come to the facilities to spend the rest of their lives. The once perfect red hearts will now appear to be drooping just a tad. The eagles and the devil masks will be looking like they were done by Picasso and the ships will be sinking in the oceans of folded skin.
Woodstock will be giving up it's people to the rollaters, the wheel chairs, the walkers and four pronged canes. Motor homes will be replaced by motorized wheel chairs or scooters. It's going to be interesting to say the least. So, enjoy the tattooed heart before it begins to droop, but prepared for when it does.

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