Greetings from Panama

While you are braving the mid-winter chill, I'm currently chillin', in sunny Panama.

Very strange visit for me--fifth time in the country in the last 10 years, but this time just traveling with Clarisa. No kids, no big agenda, just us trying to figure out how best to help her aunt and uncle.

Aunt Clarisa and Uncle Granville are marvels in many ways. He's 94 and she's 92. They've been married 68 years and have lived independently the whole time. Even now, as their medical issues are multiplying, they still cling to their independence. Good for them that their minds are keen. However, increasingly, they need help for even the simplest tasks: cooking, cleaning, shopping--without assistance they cannot survive.

Panama does not have assisted living centers. When old people need help, they either move in with someone able bodied; if they can afford it they hire helpers; or, they die. Fortunately Clarisa's aunt and uncle are not destitute. Their resourced are modest, but sufficient to continue living. They also have a network of friends and loved ones they have cultivated throughout their long lives.
Still, what to do about the stairs, the cooking, the cleaning, the shopping?

Our lives are in the U.S., so any phyical help for us to offer them is limited. However, we can help them find a better place to live--a place close to shopping and medical care, a place in a quiet neighborhood without stairs! But, how to persuade competent adults that what we know they need is really what they want? It's their lives after all, and if they want to stay in an old apartment in a dangerous neighborhood with no elevator and three flights of stairs, we can't make them move.

So, today, we'll be in "selling" mode for these old folks. We're going to show them places where they can stay--and, hopefully be happy.

I'll keep you posted how this mission ends up.