God has been faithful and Aunt Mary is dancing on the streets of gold, guest blogger Adrienne Ross

Aunt Mary--my aunt who helped raised me--passed away 2 years ago. In fact, it was 2 years ago last Sunday. When she went into cardiac arrest a year before that and ended up on life support, doctors tried to get us to take her off life support rather than do a tracheotomy. We opted to do the trache surgery, which then meant she had to live in a nursing home--unable to talk, eat, or even move on her own. It also meant that because she had assets--2 houses in her name--and because the nursing home, doctors, etc., would have to be paid, we would be forced legally to sell at least one house, as insurance won't pay until you exhaust all assets. (Those of you with elderly parents might want to keep this in mind. Get stuff out of their names or they'll take it.)

This was the house where I grew up. Not only had we lost the aunt we knew, but we lost our inheritance, but she was worth it. It was difficult all around, and for a year, I traveled the 3 hours one way down to Long Island each Saturday and returned Sunday, sitting by Aunt Mary's side and giving ‪‎my Aunt Alma‬ a break from spending every day--practically all day--there.

After Aunt Mary passed away, there was even more pressure to sell the house. It had to be sold, and the longer it took, the more stress Aunt Alma had. Dealing with lawyers and realtors and the nursing home people and doctors was hard enough after losing her sister, but then there was the cost of heating the house--which was very expensive, along with other costs. Every time it seemed we had a buyer and a contract, it all fell through--time after time. It was a few years of struggle and stress, and then the thought that they would try to make us sell the other house, too--the one Aunt Alma lives in--was added stress. It's not easy to sell a house in the county that has the highest property taxes in the nation! We just kept praying in the midst of the frustration and, admittedly, nervousness.

Now the good news: Finally...I said, FINALLY...we have sold the house! Aunt Alma closed on it and handed the keys over yesterday! Praise GOD! What a journey! And though we have lost so much in the process, we are so glad God has, once again, shown Himself to be faithful, and we have no regrets for making the decisions we did. In that time that Aunt Mary lived after her trache surgery, we saw her begin to move her body, reach for items, squeeze our hands, and attempt to speak. We saw God at work--and we're so glad we chose life. Aunt Mary is now dancing on the streets of gold, and it's all good. As for us, we're moving on!

Ms. Ross is a former high school teacher of English and now owns Adrienne Ross Communications and is a motivational speaker and writer.

Are you walking and eating healthy?

Airport employee sits for 10 years and reaches 370 lb. Starts walking the halls of the airport--loses 200 lb. and her diabetes. Plus she was an overweight child.

 http://www.kcci.com/news/she-walked-off-more-than-200-pounds-at-the-airport/29295568

Saying good-bye, guest blogger Richard Johnson

Retirement is nice a lot of the time, but sometimes it comes up to slap you in the face. When I first retired, I went back to the department (Georgia Southern Communication Arts) frequently, went to plays, visited with old friends, etc. As time went on and the body begins to flag, these visits become less frequent, and some times not at all. It has reached the stage where we only attend a movie once or twice a month, we sit at home, go to the doctors (note the plural), go to church, go to water aerobics, play with the dogs etc. Friends who were once very close evaporate into occasional glances.

Then one day you pick up the paper, glance at the obituaries (in the late seventies, reading the obituaries is an involuntary constant) and you see that a friend with whom you worked closely for almost twenty years, who is fifteen years your junior, has passed away and the funeral is at two o'clock this afternoon. It is hard to explain the reaction. One has a full day scheduled, (for a change) and suddenly getting to the funeral home on time becomes crucial and as an old coot, I get to the wrong funeral home on time, break a few traffic laws reversing directions and finally reaching the place in time to sit in the foyer, watching the funeral through a big window and listening to the sermon and quietly leaving at the end. So long, Kent, I have only seen you a dozen times in the fifteen or sixteen years since you took over my office when I retired, but suddenly there is a hole, and I will miss you. Rest well my friend.

Gait speed and dismobility

A Diagnosis of Dismobility—Giving Mobility Clinical Visibility: A Mobility Working Group Recommendation

Steven R. Cummings, MD; Stephanie Studenski, MD, MPH; Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD
JAMA. 2014;311(20):2061-2062. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.3033.

Slow gait limits independence, decreases quality of life and is associated with an increased risk of disability, hospitalization, placement in long-term care, and accelerated clinical progression of many chronic diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, congestive heart failure, and dementia. Slow gait speed is also a predictor of all-cause mortality.


http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/geriatrics/gait_disorders_in_the_elderly/gait_disorders_in_the_elderly.html

At age 75, slow walkers die ≥ 6 yr earlier than normal velocity walkers and ≥ 10 yr earlier than fast velocity walkers. Gait velocity slows because elderly people take shorter steps at the same rate (cadence). The most likely reason for shortened step length (the distance from one heel strike to the next) is weakness of the calf muscles, which propel the body forward; calf muscle strength is substantially decreased in elderly people. However, elderly people seem to compensate for decreased lower calf power by using their hip flexor and extensor muscles more than young adults.

I wonder if strengthening calf muscles makes any difference. Couldn't hurt.

Strengthening your calves

Tips for your pre-retirement years

• Life tips for my friends and readers who are 45-ish.
• Put away about 15% in your retirement account, above what your employer or government is contributing.
• Take good care of your relationships--they are like gold.
• Ignore all the food fads and scares; eat all the colors, eat less and move more. Just like mom said.
• Everything in moderation; especially alcohol and coffee and just pitch the cigarettes. They've never been found to benefit anything in your body.
• Don't be a pot head even if it is legal--you need every brain cell you have working at full capacity.
• Take care of your ears--turn down the music--and your teeth. Don't become a deaf senior citizen with ugly teeth--it's not pleasant. Take out the ear buds and see a dentist twice a year.
• Go to church. There are thousands of denominations as a result of squabbles that happened years ago. One should meet your needs. The world is actually more religious now than ever before--don't lose out on the benefits.
• Enjoy the many pleasures of owning a pet, but they are not family--don't kid yourself.
• Think about the benefits and responsibilities of being a citizen of the United States. It's not perfect, but it's the only one ever created with idea that the state/monarch/king/president doesn't own the people.