Archives for September 2011

Yeah and at last, we all end up in the same place. Nathan used to say that all the time. Remember, we end up dead so live your life the way you want.

Eleanor to Salma Keir in Caring for Eleanor

“No what will Mikel do without me?”
Eleanor lifted her head to look towards Salma.
“Somehow we convince ourselves that we can protect them from themselves. Joseph did not need me. He was a grown man who could make up his own mind, dealing with his own affairs and life. Mikel is a grown man Salma.”
“But, I…”
“Yes, I know. We also find it fulfilling that they need us. They don’t. They have proven it over and over again.”

Conversation Caring for Eleanor

“No one is different when they get older,” she said with irritation. “If you’re old and crotchety, you were young and crotchety. If you’re a pleasant old person, you were probably pleasant as a young person also.”

She adjusted in her seat.

“We’re the same inside even though our bodies are,” she looked for a word, “rotting.”

“Why do we say that? Why do we always assume that older people have to be crabby or sweet?”

“Stupid idea! Came from giving allowances to nasty people to be vile, as if their age gave them absolution and dispensation.”

Excerpt from Caring for Eleanor

But the defeated wife never communicated what she really wanted to say. Decorum dictated it, rotting tradition and decent human intercourse dictated politeness not avarice. Telling him that she supported him during his time of need, where now it was fair share, was out of the question. Tears of outraged vanity blurred her vision. The wild whirl of nameless regret and passionate sorrow overwhelmed her as she felt like a ruined broken wreck.

Excerpt: Caring for Eleanor