Elder Life Story by

Part One

baileysiesta — 2023-09-20 00:05:51 UTC

5 phrases that come to my mind when I hear "older adult" are: wrinkles, vulnerable population, grandparents, cane/walker, and dentures.

Elder Life Story Information:
Older adults name: Fred Quick
Relationship to me: Grandpa
Tentative Interview Dates: 9/23/23 and 9/30/23
Planned interview method: face to face
Older adult's permission to include photos/videos? Yes

Thank You Letter

baileysiesta — 2023-11-28 02:38:25 UTC

Dear Grandpa,

I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for the time we spent together, diving into your personal memories. It was truly a delightful and enriching experience, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from your life's journey. What I enjoyed most about our time together was the genuine warmth and openness with which you shared your memories. Your willingness to recount the various chapters of your life made me feel not only welcome but also privileged to be a listener. The stories you shared painted a vivid picture of your experiences, and I found myself captivated by the life you've lived.

One aspect that particularly surprised and moved me was the resilience and strength evident in your recollections. Despite facing challenges and overcoming obstacles, your spirit remained unbroken. Your ability to find joy in both the big and small moments was truly inspiring. It highlighted the importance of resilience and a positive outlook, qualities that I now strive to cultivate in my own life. The meaningful connections you maintained with family and friends throughout the years left a lasting impression on me. Your emphasis on the value of relationships and the importance of nurturing them over time is a lesson I will carry with me. It served as a reminder of the significance of human connections in leading a fulfilling life. In learning about your experiences and reflecting on our conversations, I gained a deeper understanding of how we only have one life to live. You opened my eyes to the fact that we only have one shot at life so you must spend it doing what makes you happy. You shouldn't sit around wait because life will pass you by before you even know it. You taught me how important it is to wear your heart on your sleeve and to always strive for success and what you want in life.

Thank you once again for opening your heart and sharing the wealth of your experiences with me. Your stories have left a mark on my perspective, and I am grateful for the lessons, laughter, and wisdom you brought into my life.

Love,

Siesta

Childhood

baileysiesta — 2023-11-28 03:30:27 UTC

My grandpa grew up in Oxford, Ohio as a kid. He was born June 10th, 1941. His parents names were Edward and Dorothy. He grew up living in a small country home as an only child. Edward was in the military while Dorothy was a stay at home mom. His first memory is him and his parents eating all together at the dinner table laughing and sharing stories. My grandpa grew up in the 1940s where riding your bike to school and going outside to throw the football around with your best buddies was the normal. He spent a lot of his childhood hanging out with friends and family. My grandpa said that growing up in his house as a kid was lots of chores and helping mom and dad out. He told me that when the family wasn't busy they spent a lot of time together playing games, reading and listening to music. When my grandpa was a teenager he played for the football team at Talawanda Highschool. My grandpa's favorite subject in school was history. He said that history was his favorite because he loved learning about the wars and what we had accomplished in the world. He said that he always knew he was going to go into the Army after he graduated high school just like his father. It was in high school when my grandpa met my grandma, Cheryl. They were high school sweethearts. They started dating their junior year of high school in 1958. They've been together ever since. My grandpa said that his favorite holiday has always been Christmas because that's when his family would go out together to see Christmas lights, drink hot chocolate and go visit his grandmother Sue.

Adulthood

baileysiesta — 2023-11-28 04:09:56 UTC

My grandpa and grandma got married in the summer after they both graduated high school in 1959. My grandpa officially enlisted in the military in the spring of 1960. He was stationed in South Korea for 4 years. He describes his time in the military as very rewarding but as very terrifying. He described seeing lots of things that were very difficult for him to process at the time and are still somewhat difficult for him to talk about today. He said that at the end of the day, he wouldn't change his decision of joining the Army because it taught him core values and self control. He says it's a giant part of what makes him the person that he still is today. After he came back from being in the Army in 1964, my grandpa got a job at a paper factory in Hamilton, Ohio called Champion. By 1973, my grandpa and grandma had two kids named Jay and Tracy. Tracy is my mom and Jay is my uncle. My grandpa said that being a parent was very rewarding and taught him the true value of patience and understanding. He says that raising kids is truly a task that will try at every angle, but you have to push through because you know you have to do what's best for your children. He says that having kids is the best thing that he ever did.

Older Adulthood

baileysiesta — 2023-11-28 04:22:20 UTC

My grandpa now has 3 grandchildren. Me, and my cousins Travis and Madison. He says that he is proud of every single one of his grandchildren for what they have accomplished in life. I am a nursing student that works as a nursing assistant at Fort Hamilton Hospital. Madison is a mother of 3 that works as a realtor in Hamilton. Travis is a construction worker that owns his own home. He describes us as his joy and happiness and that he loves to see us flourish just as much as his own children. He also says that he is grateful to have seen three of the generations that are coming after him. My grandpa says that the best part of aging is being able to spread the knowledge that you have learned throughout your life to others. He says that if we don't share the knowledge we have gained throughout our lives how do we expect the people that come after us to not make the same mistakes they did? If we didn't share our knowledge the world would be stuck on a loop of mistakes that continuously keep happening until the end of time. On my grandpa's bucket list is to go to Washington D.C. on the Honor Flight Network to see all of the memorials. My grandpa said that overall the hardest thing he had to do was to leave his family to go to the Army in the first place. He says the hardest thing about it was not knowing if he would come back after he completed his contract with the Army. My grandpa said that his favorite memory as an older adult would be seeing his children grow up into amazing adults and getting to see his grandchildren grow up as well.

Reflection

baileysiesta — 2023-11-28 04:57:34 UTC

After listening to my grandpa’s life story, a mix of emotions washed over me. The stories of resilience and triumph created a sense of inspiration for me, leaving me with an admiration for my grandpa’s strength in the face of adversity. I experienced empathy as I heard about the challenges and hardships, which helped me create a deeper connection with my grandpa. I also was just filled with so much gratitude for the opportunity to glimpse into his history and wisdom. I also experienced nostalgia as I reflected on my own life journey and family history. But there was also times that he made me laugh at his funny stories. Overall, hearing my grandpa’s life story was a transformative experience, leaving me with a profound appreciation for the resilience, wisdom, and unique journey that has unfolded over the course of a lifetime.
One approach that I used when talking to my grandpa was giving him more time in between each question to respond and really think about his response. I learned this from module time as it states “Older adults may take more time to think about concepts or respond to questions.” (Module 10, Cognitive Function) I chose this approach because my grandpa is 81 years old and it does take him a bit longer than younger people to respond to questions but also because he had a stroke in June as well. The outcome of me waiting longer in between questions was that my grandpa responded really well with much more elaborate and thought out answers than he usually does when people ask him questions. Usually my grandpa gives people a sentence or two but doesn’t really say much other than that. I think me waiting for him to think about it mixed with him being excited to talk about his life really improved our conversation overall.
Another approach I took was to make note of my grandpa’s nonverbal communication to make sure that he was okay to answer certain questions like about his time in the army. I would use physical touch to comfort him and assure him that it was okay if he didn’t want to answer the question. “Physical touch is widely recognized as a nursing intervention and a key method of nonverbal communication. Human touch can have a calming effect, and it has also been linked to positive psychological effects including improved sleep and lower pulse and blood pressure” (Miller, 242) The outcome of this effect is I felt that my grandpa was more comfortable answering more difficult questions and diving deeper into his past than he would have with most people. I understood that it was a very hard thing to talk about some parts of his experiences in the Army and lot of them he didn’t want me to include in my interview because they were very personal to him.
My thoughts and feelings did change as a result of this assignment. I think that the words I originally used to describe older adults were really vague as well and kind of uneducated. Most people when they think of older adults we think of them as these fragile and vulnerable populations of people. Which is true, in a health sense. But mentally they are so strong. These older adults have seen and experienced so much within their lifetimes. The older adults have so much knowledge that can be shared and spread with the world. I believe that the best person to get advice from will always be an older adult who has seen the world and experienced many more things that I could ever dream of. Just listening to my grandpa’s story showed me just how much older adults have been through things that most people don’t think about when we look at them.
This experience will impact my future of nursing practice by treating everyone the same regardless of their age. Everyone deserves to be treated like a human being equally in the healthcare field. Whether someone is 80 years old or is 10, they deserve to have the same kind of care. We shouldn’t treat someone who is 10 like they’re a baby and we shouldn’t treat someone who is 80 like they could break at any minute. We know some of what our patients have been through but we don’t know everything that they have been through. Every person has their own life story that they have experienced no matter how old they are. So I will take with me from this assignment moving forward, to never judge a book by it’s cover and to treat every single one of my patients with respect and equally no matter their age.