The on-deck circle...

 

 

"The "on-deck circle" is where you go when you are next up..."

Here it is on a Friday afternoon, and I am going to be talking about something morose in nature. However, when I look up at the steely gray sky ushering in the cool autumnal winds, I guess it is okay to bring this topic up.

This week, my wife's Dad got sick (maybe pneumonia) and fell in his bathroom. We rushed him to the hospital where he was admitted. The hospitalist on duty thought (no surprise to us) that my Father-in-law might be too weak to go safely home, and should consider going to rehab. We are very familiar with that routine, as we have been through it with my Mother as well as my Mother-in-law (while she was alive).

Being in hospitals, transitional care facilities, and then full care facilities brings two thoughts to mind. First, I am amazed on how much care facilities have improved since my grandparent's day. Back then, a care facility (aka a "nursing home") was little more than a warehousing location for old people. The old folks laid in bed until the Lord called them home. The facility usually smelled of urine, and many of the people had dementia. With some, all they could do was cry or moan in their beds.

The second thing I think of is simply this - I have entered into the "on-deck circle" of life. When I was younger and my grandparents were aging, their stage of life seemed like forever away. Now that our parents have entered that stage, I realize I am looking at our future. In other words, if we are fortunate to live long enough, our bodies will start to fail. My Father-in-law, who has always been as tough as nails and could do most anything, was so weak this past Wednesday, he could not even get out of his chair. It is very common for folks in their 80's or 90's to start losing leg strength and balance.

There are some advantages of realizing you are in the "on-deck circle" of life. We understand our tomorrows are running low, so we need to fully live out our todays. Every person I have run into at my Mother's care facility, was once in the "on-deck circle". And before that, they were young.

They are each one of them, a person. And they have a story. They are "us", in not too many years. They deserve the respect they have earned. They deserve kindness. They deserve to be treated as we would like to be treated when we enter the final stages of our journey.