This blog presents the ideas and creative thinking of some of Utah's talented older adult writers. Their submissions are to inform and entertain, not to present policy or opinion positions of the Utah Commission on Aging. Enjoy.
When Abraham Lincoln laughed at something during the Civil War, he is rumored to have been criticized for it, and in response he said, “If I didn’t laugh, I would surely cry.” Those of you who are caregivers, either professionally or for a loved one, know that can be true of us, too. If we only see the serious side of things, what is happening can sometimes seem unbearable.
I wasn’t with him when my husband, Dennis, passed away at 12:10 a.m. on May 2, 2021. I got the news on my cell phone. I heard about my father’s passing in the same way, so I knew what I had to do. I dressed quickly and drove to the memory care facility where he had been for only eight days.
The other day, while scrolling down the list of Apple News top stories on my iPhone, I nearly threw my phone in the garbage can. In my 71 years, I can’t remember reading so many horribly negative, depressing headlines in one small space.
On the calendar, it says July 4th is Independence Day. To me, every day is a day to celebrate our independence and freedom.
Age 95 years and 224 days, to be exact. That’s the age of legendary Utah ski instructor Junior Bounous on April 5 when he entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest heli-skier. He did it via a Powderbird Helicopter atop 11, 489-foot American Fork Twin Peaks, the highest point on the Little Cottonwood Canyon Ridge.