Painting up

Guest post written by Pat Rodgerson

Sure, people do crazy things in college like painting their entire bodies in their team color just to jump around during hot noon football games. But that doesn't mean that everyone should quit that once they graduate from college. I think that some people are meant to keep on doing stuff like that, like me and my husband and our old friends.

We all have season tickets to all the football games and although I sport a digital hearing aid I'm not afraid to still act like I'm in college. I still paint my face. My husband and his friends still paint their chests and get on the jumbotron and on TV. A lot of the students and fans recognize us now too.

Somebody from ESPN interviewed my husband and one of the other men a few years ago and they had some trouble hearing what the man was saying when he was interviewing them. It didn't look that bad on TV when we watched it at home but right after that when we went back home my husband went to a hearing aid locations in GA near us and his friend went to go and buy some hearing aids Austin Texas.

This year they're ready and rearing for their big time in the spotlight again.

Gramps

For the first time in my grandfather’s life he was living alone and I could not help but feel empathy for him. My grandfather and my grandmother had been married 51 years before my grandmother passed away a few months ago. Since that time my grandfather had been withdrawing from the family and the few friends he had. But things started to turn around for my grandpa a couple of weeks ago after receiving a visit from a senior citizen center that had recently opened up in our small town. At first my grandpa was reluctant but after some prodding from the family my grandpa slowly started partaking in activities such as the senior citizen bingo night and the new senior health spa. It was like a new lease on life for my grandpa. I don't remember ever seeing grandpa this active and my grandfather is pushing 72. It got to the point where instead of just stopping by to visit I had to call my grandfather to make sure that he was home and he was not out on the town with some of his new found friends from the senior care center. So it came as no shock to us when grandpa announced that he was going to be moving into the senior citizen care center so he could be better cared for. I think though that grandpa wanted to be closer to the "party" if you will. However, before moving into the center my grandpa had decided that his quality of life could be greatly enhanced if he were to get some hearing aids. Hearing aids, for my grandpa! I couldn't believe it. This coming from a man that said technology is not for him. If God wanted old people to hear, then their hearing wouldn't go away with age. That's what gramps used to say anyway. The hearing aid prices were low enough, and after the hearing aids and the spa treatments my grandpa has been a new man and I am extremely happy for him and his new found friends that he "bunks" with downtown at the state of the art senior living center.

Written by Whitney Balson