Monday, July 25, 2011

A Child's View of Retirement


After a Christmas break, a teacher asked her young pupils
how they spent their holidays. One small boy wrote the following:

We used to spend Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live here in a big brick home.  But Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Florida.  Now they live in a place with a lot of other retarded people. They all live in little tin boxes. They have three-wheeled tricycles and they all wear name tags because they don't know who they are. They play games and do exercises too. But they don't do them pretty good.

There is a swimming pool there. They go in it and just stand there with their hats on. I guess they don't know how to swim. As you go into their park, there is a doll house with a little man sitting in it. He watches all day so they don't get out without him seeing them. When they sneak out, they go to the beach and pick up shells that they think are dollars.

My Grandma used to bake cookies and stuff, but I guess she forgot how. Nobody cooks, they just eat out. They eat the same things every night - “early birds”. Some people are so retarded they don't know how to cook at all. So my Grandma and Grandpa bring food into the 'wrecked hall” and they call it 'potted luck'. My Grandma says that Grandpa worked all his life and earned his retardment. I wish they would move back up here but I guess the little man in the doll house won't let them out.”


This poem I love...and titling it...The Modern Grandma of Today

In the dim and distant past,
When Life's tempo wasn't fast,
Grandma used to rock and knit,
Crochet, tat and babysit.
When the kids were in a jam
They would always count on Gram.
In an age of gracious living,
Grandma was the gal for giving.

Grandma, now, is in the gym
Exercising to keep slim.
She's off touring with the bunch,
Taking clients out for lunch.
Driving north to ski or curl...
All her days are in a whirl.
Nothing seems to stop or block her...
Now that Grandma's off her rocker!


Merle Baird-Kerr
(written June 13, 2011)

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