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I Don’t Know Who Needs To Hear This, But Nursing Homes Are Not Filled With Childfree People!
Can someone please come to the front of the class and tell me where on earth parents really get the idea that their kids will take care of them when they’re older?
When I was a little girl I had a best friend who was in the grade above me. After school we would walk across the street, enter the nursing home and sign our names, and visit an elderly woman we called Sister Browne. She was a good friend of my best friend’s family.
We would keep Sister Browne company many afternoons. She was a finicky Caribbean woman, but she was very entertaining to be around. She would feed us a snack and tell us all about her life when she was younger.
Sister Browne had seven children. Each one of their photos were hung up on her living room wall so she could see them each day. Unfortunately, with all the time we spent around her we never saw any of them visit. My friend and I were her main visitors.
I have been around my fair share of elderly people back in the day, and if there is one thing that has been confirmed for me time and time again, it is that parents who scoff at childfree people because we apparently wouldn’t have anyone to take care of us when we are old are simply lying to themselves. Many of the elderly I have been…
