Push me off a cliff

My wife and I have a bit of dark humor surrounding maturing, and she often jokes about if ever getting to a point in her life when she can’t live independently and needs care. Her exact words are: just push me off a cliff. Unfortunately it became all too apparent when visiting my father that getting old is not for the faint of heart.

It is clear to everyone in our family that my father needs to be in an assisted living community, but he flatly refuses to move anywhere. What is even more concerning is that he continues to drive at risk to both himself and others. He is blind in one eye and has considerable trouble seeing anything close up or far away with his other eye. Once a month he gets a painful shot to retain some eyesight in his one good eye. After taking him to the eye doctor, I learned that while he is technically legal to drive with his one good eye, it is not recommended. He’s been playing fast and loose with the facts and claimed his ophthalmologist does an eye test every month and sends that information into the department of transportation to enable him to continue to drive. Not even remotely true. Yes, they do the eye test, but not for the purpose of clearing him to drive. That must be done by a licensed optometrist. Unfortunately my father is stubborn and will not stop driving. It is heartbreaking watching his decline. While I understand this loss of independence is horrible, I worry about the consequences of his refusal to give up driving. I would definitely not want to be in his position, but may be at that point someday unless my wife kindly pushes me off a cliff.

Recently I started writing a book about a mature couple buying a ghost town and developing a lesbian retirement community. I want to make this a light-hearted book like pretty much every book I have ever written, with sprinkles of more serious messages. Hopefully, my recent visit with my father will not color my vision, but allow me to work through my thoughts on watching a parent age and deteriorate. Perhaps I can still address those issues with humor and grace. We shall see…If you want to see how I address other social issues in my books, feel free to click the links below! And, of course if you want to complete Jae’s book challenge and need a Dystopian novel, The Others is perfect to fit the bill. Don’t forget to check out the fabulous Affinity Rainbow Publications book A Walk Away by Lacey Schmidt.

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