Stop Blaming Others and Take Responsibility

Obviously, the title of this entry can cover a lot of topics of late. But, the one that I just read about in the paper is what prompted me to put down said paper and immediately blog about it. Also, the unfortunate incident took place not far from where I live.

Around 6:00 pm this past Saturday, an elderly man from Hillsborough went missing from his family. His family reported him missing about 11:00 pm; it took the Durham police another 90 minutes or so to issue a Silver Alert (similar to an Amber Alert for children except it means a senior person with dementia/memory loss is missing).

About 20 minutes after that alert was issued, the unfortunate man was hit by a car while walking down Highway 98 and Sherron Road (this is near the Food Lion shopping center roughly a mile or so from my house).

Ok, this is really, really sad for everyone. Certainly for the man's family, for him (I guess, perhaps he's happier being dead since he probably now remembers everything) and for the unfortunate woman who happened to hit him (I don't think she's being charged since it was 12:45 or so in the morning and she probably didn't expect some old dude to be wandering down the highway).

What has irked me this morning is the family is upset that the police did not issue this Silver Alert right away. They are saying IF they had, chances are, he would have been found before he was hit and killed.

Maybe that's true. But, hello? WHY did you wait over five hours to report him missing in the first place? And, why in the hell did you let this man DRIVE a car? What? He was DRIVING a car? Someone with his dementia condition/memory loss issues was operating a potentially lethal weapon? Yep, his family allowed him to drive a car from Hillsborough to somewhere, he was apparently following someone else (his wife) so they thought it'd be ok. Well, it wasn't; he got confused (they think) and took a wrong turn. The wife realized he wasn't behind her and pulled off, hoping he'd figure it out and come back the right way (remember, she KNEW her husband had dementia/memory loss problems and she was thinking he'd REMEMBER the right way?)

Anyway, the bottom line (IMO) is that these folks really, really messed up, and, as a result, a man is dead and another person has to live with the fact that she killed him. And these people are blaming the police for not issuing a Silver Alert 90 minutes sooner.

Give me a freaking break!

Mrs. B

Go Forth and Multiply BUT At Different Ages

I read in Sunday's "Parade" magazine an article which high lighted ways to live to be 100 (assuming one WANTS to live to be 100).

Most of what they talked about didn't surprise me, but, one item did.

It said that women who gave birth AFTER age 40 more than quadrupled their chances to live to be 100. I found that really fascinating and have been pondering it. WHY is it, do you think? Is it because, by the time a child/children reached their 40s, you'd be in your 80s and want to live long enough to see grandchildren so you'd stick around to 100? Or, because you'd be so busy running around like a chicken without its head on trying to keep up with a youngster when you're a bit, uh, long in the tooth that you simply don't have time to think about kicking the bucket?

I'm not sure I really understand the rationale (and the article did not go into any depth). But, what was even more strange was that it said men who have children also live longer, ESPECIALLY if they start having their families at a younger age.

Younger than WHAT? Or WHOM?

So, does all of this mean that us broads over 40 should be shacking up with young dudes and having kids by them so that we can all live to be 100? Except we'd be 100 and they might only be 80. And, what about how tough it is for women to get pregnant when they are over 40? Most of us are already starting the periomenapause process, for God's sake.

Well, it's all a moot point for me, of course; I've no intention of leaving my Mr. B for some young dude and I doubt we'll be having kids at this point but, it was worth blogging about. I don't think "Parade" did a great job researching this little factoid!

Mrs. B