From our first breath to our last breath we are constantly growing older. It is an inescapable process of life that knows no boundaries such as race or gender; it happens to everyone and everything on earth. It is through aging that we mature and become wise in the ways of life. The way that one chooses to live life, and the opportunities that they take, influence the quality of their life in its later years. .
Take for example Mrs. Chapman; she is an eighty year-old woman who lives across the street from my family. She is a very strong woman, in all senses of the word. Emotionally, she has been through, and still goes through a lot. Her late husband suffered from bowel cancer and passed away in 1974; leaving her to parent two children on her own. Ten years later she meet her current husband, and is now at the age of eighty, his sole caregiver. He is a difficult and miserable man whose outlook on life is, " I"ll be glad when it's over". Mr. Chapman is her primary source of stress and he is probably the reason she has angina. He is 86 years old and has prostrate cancer, heart problems, a pace maker, a hearing aid, emphysema, and is on oxygen twenty-four hours a day. He is a stubborn man who refuses to relinquish his drinking, as a result of this he falls often. This is extremely hard on Mrs. Chapman because she hasn't the strength to help him up on her own and often calls upon on neighbors to help her get him back on his feet. Mentally, she is still sharp. She is extremely alert and upbeat for her age. Her memory is great, and she's a very knowledgeable woman with a lot to offer anyone that takes the time to get to know her. She is also very meticulous about her looks and her surroundings. Mrs. Chapman is 5" 4" and 140lbs. The amount of physical strength that she has is amazing. At her age she is still does all the gardening and lawn work; this includes navigating the wheel barrel full of dirt around the yard, and mowing the lawn.
