{"id":825,"date":"2018-04-15T13:03:33","date_gmt":"2018-04-15T17:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/?p=825"},"modified":"2018-04-19T14:08:24","modified_gmt":"2018-04-19T18:08:24","slug":"a-century-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/a-century-old\/","title":{"rendered":"A Century Old"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just last month, my patient turned 100 years old! I remember when I first met her, one of the first things she declared was, “I’m 99 years old!” Thinking about it brings a smile to my face. Now I think of her even when I’m not with her, I see her resemblance to the other individuals I encounter in my life. In fact, just the other day, I noticed three old men in the early morning hours in Panera, wheelchair bound, staring longingly out the store window. I was immediately reminded of Betty<\/em>, my patient, and how she would do the same. After reflecting on the conversations I’ve had with her and what it means to live when most everyone you know has died, I felt inspired to write this poem. As with most events in life, the end-of-life is a bittersweet time, and I am grateful to experience this with my 100 year old friend.<\/p>\n

“A Century Old”<\/p>\n

When I first met her,
\nHer wheelchair was turned towards the window sill,
\nThe one she’d been looking out for 8 years,
\nThe only window she’ll look past now,
\nCounting cars as they passed by,
\nTallying the colors of the cars,
\nShe liked the red ones best, she said.
\nRed was the color of her bracelets,
\nShe made them herself, she said.
\nI asked about her family every visit,
\nAnd she would talk of her sons,
\nHow they died,
\nand of her grandchildren in the same way,
\nEvery time.
\nShe didn’t know I had heard the stories before,
\nAnd she didn’t need to know,
\nI admired her memories,
\nThe ones she kept dear to her heart.
\nShe would laugh it off when she couldn’t remember something,
\nAnd I always wondered if there was a part of her that worried she would forget it all,
\nBut she never showed it.
\nI could tell she was withering,
\nIf I spoke softly, she wouldn’t hear me,
\nSo I learned to shout in conversation.
\nShe used to eat by herself before,
\nBut now she needs help.
\nDespite the fading,
\nShe remains content,
\nShe has accepted that her time is near,
\nwearing her lopsided glasses,
\nShe laughs,
\nWaiting until it is her turn,
\nTo close her eyes sleepily,
\nand rest peacefully forever.<\/p>\n

The experiences I’ve had with Betty<\/em> will be cherished forever. The way she and her grandchildren have touched me will remain with me through life. I only wish that she remains content, and hope that other students get to experience the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just last month, my patient turned 100 years old! I remember when I first met her, one of the first things she declared was, “I’m 99 years old!” Thinking about it brings a smile to my face. Now I think of her even when I’m not with her, I see her resemblance to the other … Continue reading “A Century Old”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"school":[7],"program_year":[27],"class_list":["post-825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hospice","school-princeton","program_year-27"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=825"},{"taxonomy":"program_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_year?post=825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}