I remember the great first line of one of my favorite books by M. Scott Peck, M.D., The Road Less Traveled, “Life is difficult.” If you haven’t had the good fortune to read Dr. Peck’s philisophical masterpiece, his basic premise is that in our culture we are taught life should always be perfect and wonderful, leaving us vulnerable and unprepared to deal with the harsh realities. While my wife Trisha and I try our best to maintain positive attitudes, our recent struggles dealing with my father’s health crisis have brought us face-to-face with some very difficult issues and tested every aspect of our mental, emotional, and physical strength.
The good news is virtually every time over the last few weeks we began to feel completely overwhelmed, a family member or friend would stop by, offer encouragement over the phone, or send us a supportive email or card. While not every one of our family members or friends are seniors, they certainly have been providing us with our own personal “Senior Support System.” After each phone call or other message, we have taken a deep breath and smiled at the wonderful sense of not being alone during this difficult time. It has been very reassuring and reminded us of a very simple concept: we all have the capacity to provide support and encouragement for our fellow human beings. What better gift can we share with one another?
For some this may seem a bit cliche and melodramatic, but from this side of the support coin, nothing could be more true and valuable. Thank you to those who have been so supportive (you know who you are). Both Trisha and I aspire to be as thoughtful and play a part in providing others with their “Senior Support System” when those times present themselves.
Life can be difficult indeed, but each of us can help make those times bearable.
John Parker
The Best of Our Lives Blog 
June 1, 2010 at 10:31 pm
How true. We are very fortunate to have friends to help and offer encouragement. It is also important to have friends to whom we can “vent” our frustrations. Talking to friends reminds us how lucky we are to still have our parents or parent with us. And what a privilege it is to help these people who have loved us all of our lives.
June 2, 2010 at 8:21 pm
John, you and Trish have already provided us all with a “senior support system” – your book. We hope nothing but the best for your Dad. The brief time we talked to him at the “Roast” showed we could see what a gentleman you have for a Dad. Best Wishes, Mike and Jeannie Moran