[Broken Wind]

I spent a good bit of last week with my parents in their assisted living facility in another state. I can't think of a more depressing way to live out one's life.

My parents, dad especially, needs this level of attention and care. I wish they didn't have to be there, but there is no other option. From what I have observed, I will never subject myself to that.

This is not a low-end place. It looks like a country club (in fact, it is situated adjacent to one). It costs around $10K/mo for them to be there.

Like most staffs, there is good and not so good. The lower paid employees generally don't give a shit and they don't take pains to hide that fact (or their prison tattoos) from anyone.

I ate meals with my parents in the dining room. From their table, you could see everyone arriving at the dining room from the hallway. It was a depressing sight to see. It's a long parade of elderly people, 90+% of which are using a walker, and many of them have great difficulty walking even with that.

You get the sense that everyone there is simply waiting to die. And I suppose that's true. **** that. I'm not going to go like that.

On a more positive note, there is a 100 yr old lady there who shares a dining table with Mom and Dad. She is a lovely, sweet lady who appears to still be sharp mentally. We discovered that we had traveled to some of the same countries and I had the privilege of sharing memories with her.

I have no idea what i did to get that fkng yawning smilie in the title.