...in a small town northwest of Atlanta, GA, USA; the "Sunny South" as it's known. Snow is a rarity to say the least but in the past 45 days we've had fairly good amounts dumped on us twice and last night was one of them. It was less than an inch but combined with temps around 15 degrees and a wind chill of about 2 degrees it's enough to confirm my 'dottage' and the limitations imposed by our particular 'infirmity'.
Usually, each morning, I go next door and get my neighbor's newspaper and put it on her porch (she's a bit worse off than I ), come back to my house and have breakfast. This morning, I just had breakfast and phoned a little while ago to check in on her. She's in her 80s and her legs don't work so well anymore but otherwise she seems okay. Also, what makes this thing of growing old even more difficult for her is that she's a 'good old country gal', not used to depending on anyone and as she ages she's been lamenting, sometimes nearly to the point of tears, the loss of what she calls her "privileges": driving, doing her own shopping and otherwise taking care of her 'self'..., herself.
She has no pets except the birds and squirrels freeloading from her backyard 'feeder' that she has no hope of getting to for refills this time of year. Her kids all live in other towns miles away and sometimes she goes weeks without seeing or hearing from any of them except her daughter who attends her a couple of times a month, running errands and otherwise helping her maintain her home/grounds. Otherwise, she has only me and while she tries to be 'friendly' and appreciative, it's obvious there's a large hole in her life that's being left unfilled.
Days like today and probably most of tomorrow, I'll be unable to get her newspaper or otherwise visit as we're both 'housebound'. I'm running on and on about this but it's as though it's become perfectly obvious that I'm really at "that point" in my life where things/relationships are changing drastically. I'm even more bereft of family than my next door neighbor, since my brother and sister live nearly 700 miles away in Arkansas and the only other relative I'm still in contact with via the internet and phone is a cousin in Texas. Another long time life long friend is in San Francisco, CA. Whatever friends I had nearby have long since either died, moved back in with their own families or gone off on their own.
Just another rant.