Earlier this week (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evenings), I have been speaking at Risen Son Christian Village in Council Bluffs, IA, where my parents live. I found it to be quite a challenge. I didn't want to be merely nostalgic or sentimental in my approach. I wanted to honor my audience by engaging some of the real issues they are going through and encouraging them during these tiring and difficult end-of-life years.
Krista Tippet's recent interview with Jane Gross was especially well-timed for me. For one thing, it gave me much to think about as I tried to share something meaningful with my elderly audience at RSCV. But I also connected with the content of the interview in a more personal way as I am one of the growing number of baby boomers trying to help their parents navigate their final years. These are the years Jane Gross calls the "prolonged season of in-between" – that extended period of decline and dependence more and more people are experiencing these days.
ON BEING: THE FAR SHORE OF AGING
Krista Tippett interviews Jane Gross
It is a story of our time — the new landscape of living longer, and of dying more slowly too. Jane Gross has explored this as a daughter and as a journalist, and as creator of the New York Times’ “New Old Age” blog. She has grounded advice and practical wisdom about caring for our loved ones and ourselves on the far shore of aging.
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