Its funny what touches you

I know everyone is affected by different things that they encounter in life and I like to think that its mostly the good things that affect us, or else life would be incredibly tough.

What's prompted this?  I was driving along the road today and I saw an elderly gentleman from the local care home, being escorted along the road by his big burly carer.  The old gent was shuffling along, hunched over and moving incredibly slowly.  His carer gently held his arm through his and had his hand resting on his hand whilst supporting him along his way.  Granted, by itself this situation doesn't seem particularly thought provoking, until you start to think further into it.

I imagine them shuffling along, the old gent regaling his carer with stories of his youth, imparting golden nuggets of advice that can only be gained by those so long lived.

I admire the carers of the world, in my eyes, their day to day job is just so incredibly hard in so many ways that my heart goes out to them.  I am sure that they would also say that it is incredibly rewarding, I just know that with how affected I am by others pain, suffering and loss, that it would weigh far too heavy on me to cope. I would also feel the loss of a persons presence so hard to bear, inevitably, carers must lose many people that they become close to and care for. People that they will have shared stories with about past times and lives lived and learnt from and confided in.  Maybe that's just a romantic notion and they are all in fact grumpy old buggers that give them hell constantly! I like to imagine it as the former though!

I also then start to wonder about other things.  I wonder if the elderly gentleman has lived a good and healthy life, if he spends his day with fantastic memories of times gone by, or if he sits, racked with regrets of missed opportunities and a life unfulfilled?  I wonder if he was happily married and now his days are filled with missing the love of his life.. Again, I prefer to steer myself to the former judgement, as I like to think if I ever make it to such an age, that I will look back on my life with pride and happiness. I'm sure its not all black and white of course! At the very least, I know I will look back on my life and remember the time I took control of everything and changed my body, my thinking and my direction!

See what happens when I haven't got the gym to keep me occupied and so exhausted I don't have time to think!