Globe Syndicate

 

For release Friday December 29, 2006

 

The Sandwich Generation . . . Helping Your Aging Parents

 

by Carol Abaya, M.A.

 

AGE IS A STATE OF MIND

 

It’s “that” time of year again; the time to reflect on the past year, time to look forward to the New Year and the time to visit with words of wisdom from around the world.  Oftentimes, these words of wisdom tie directly into our own psyche and spirit.  This year’s quotes come from a book titled “Old Age is Always 15 Years Older Than I Am,” by Randy Voorhees. 

 

Enjoy!   A Happy and Healthy New Year!

 

“I think all this talk about age is foolish.  Every time I’m one year older, everyone else is too,” by Gloria Swanson, actress.

 

“The excitement of learning separates youth from old age.  As long as you are learning you’re not old,” by Rosalyn Sussan Yalow, physicist.

 

“Old age is not a disease; it is a strength and survivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illnesses,” by Maggie Kuhn, activist

 

“Age is a question of mind over matter.  If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter,” By Satchel Paige, baseball player.

 

“Don’t worry about senility,” my grandfather used to say.  “When it hits you, you won’t know it.”  by Bill Cosby, comedian.

 

“Perhaps one has to be very old before one learns how to be amused rather than shocked,” by Pearl S. Buck, author.

 

“Age only matters when one is aging.  Now that I have arrived at a great age, I might just as well be twenty,” by Pablo Picasso, artist.

 

“Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals.  Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul,” by Douglas MacArthur, army general.

 

“The longer I live the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only wasted my time,”  by George Bernard Shaw, author.

 

“I don’t worry about getting old.  I’m old already.  Only young people worry about getting old,” by George Burns, comedian.

 

“Old age is the only disease you don’t look forward to being cured of,” from movie Citizen Kane, 1941.

 

“Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age,” Booth Tarkington, novelist.

 

“Be forever a student.  He and he alone is an old man who feels that he has learnt enough and has no need for more knowledge,”  Sivananda, Indian physician.

 

“Every stage of human life, except the last, is marked out by certain and defined limits; old age alone has no precise and determinate boundary,” by Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman.

 

“Experience is a great advantage.  The problem is that when you get the experience you’re too damned old to do anything about it,” by Jimmy Connor, tennis player.

 

“Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven’t committed,” by Anthony Powell, English novelist.

 

“I will never give in to old age until I become old.  And I’m not old yet!” by Tina Turner, singer.

 

 

Are you juggling doing errands for your aging parents, your children, yourself and working at the same time?  Are you tired, stressed out and upset that your once vibrant parent is now frail and needy?

 

Do you feel alone?  Rest assured you are not alone!  The Sandwich Generation is dedicated to the 50 million Americans who may have elder/parent care concerns and/or responsibilities.

 

* * *

 

Do you have a question? Send it in. Although letters cannot be answered individually, appropriate letters will be answered in this column whenever possible. Letters may be edited. Send letters to Ms. Carol Abaya, mail direct to her at PO Box 132, Wickatunk, NJ 07765-0132 or contact her through her web site: thesandwichgeneration.com.

 

Carol Abaya is an international-award-winning journalist and creator of the unique magazine The Sandwich Generation: You & Your Aging Parents.

 

NOTES TO EDITORS: text = 565 words; other material = 160 words

 

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