Familiar Places

I was very grateful that my mother, who lived to a ripe old age, could live in her own home until a year or so before her death. I knew she was a fuller person living in the home she had shared with her husband, raised her children in, and where she knew the neighbors. Every nook had memories, and stirred her. She related. She was oriented. When she was out of her familiar surroundings, she tended to be confused, detached, without a sense of purpose. She also continued to save and give small change to her grandchildren, even after they were grown! I took this to be a sign of her needing to feel she had a role.

An important aspect of survival will be organizing the survivors so that each does feel they have a role, a purpose, are important to the others in that what they do affects the others positively. I've read that men more often die shortly after retirement than women, who continue to feel they have a purpose in that they tend house and attend to the comfort of family members. Feeling no sense of purpose or importance, men die! In this regard, men were advised to plan for retirement, develop activities, etc. In this regard, we should plan for survival after the cataclysms, too.

Offered by Nancy.