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In Reply to: Sorry about this, Jules posted by Reposter on August 30, 2004 at 01:47:25:
Well, it twant me - I was away at a 35 year high school reunion. Imagine meeting people I hadn't seen for 35 years - wowzee. That was a trip and a half. When I left TF I was 38, I went to college at 42. I used to really, really hate myself because I saw others my age who were planning for retirement, had nest eggs and had their own homes. I didn't own a thing and I was on welfare, not to mention that I had 8 kids still living at home, from newborn to 16 years old. I had a looong way to go to seeing any kind of retirement, even from motherhood.
But I don't hate myself for it anymore. I've realized that shit happens and it doesn't matter what walk of life one choses. I've seen older people who worked all their lives and saved, only to have their children realize that the only way they were going to be able to afford a nursing home for their aged parents at $4,000 a month, is to use up all their assests so the government can pay for it through medicaid. In fact I had to do this for my stepfather who had Alzheimer's and my nearly 80 year old mother was looking after him. It was just awful. It took me 3 months to sort through their paperwork which was a mess with one with Alzheimers and one with dementia, can you imagine? Plus I was working and still had 6 kids at home. Anyway, I had to deal with the government workers which is another nightmare, but we finally did it and got him in a nursing home so he could be looked after and my mother could have that burden lifted. Sadly, she died shortly after. But it was sure a wake up call for me to see all the troubles that can happen. I also saw it when I worked in a probate office.
Also, I noticed someone commented about old people working at McDonald's and Wal-Mart. I'm wondering if some do that because they don't want to sit at home. It's not always all that bad.
