Connor once went through a phase of intense concern over what would happen to me when I got old. He would tell me every day what provisions he would make for my golden years--bring me groceries, buy me a house, take me to the doctor--and how he was going to pay for these plans. Just to yank his chain a bit, I told him that sometimes old people have to wear diapers and asked if he was going to change my diapers one day. Not expecting such a dilemma, he pondered a long time for a four year-old. Thinking he might have forgotten the original question, I asked him again if he was willing to do old-age diaper duty. He looked at me so innocently and said, “No…but I’ll pay someone else to do it!” Which sounds like a solution we can all live with. It’s hard to contemplate the aging of our loved ones, and fully absorbing
mortality is almost impossible. As a girl, my grandmother made me promise that, when her time came, I would make sure she was sent to the next life with her toenails painted their customary red. I made the commitment never realizing that one day I would actually be insisting on it during funeral preparations. But insist I did. And prevailed. In Angela Johnson’s When I Am Old With You, a little boy projects into the future where he and his beloved grandpa will age together forever. I wish that could truly happen.http://www.amazon.com/When-Old-You-Orchard-Paperbacks/dp/0531070352
http://aalbc.com/authors/angela.htm
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