Waiting for the Failure

I visited a friend the other day who is forced to spend her days in a chair. She has a couple of controls, one for the chair and the other for the TV. After a life of self sufficiency and generosity, she must be the recipient of care even to eat. Her mind is keen but it is difficult for her to speak. I've found that the most valuable thing that I can do for her is let my mouth run. I store up funny episodes that others tell me and we talk about our lives. I told her that my mother thought I would be unable to have children and she told me that her mother told her that the world in which she would live would make it almost impossible to bring up children. I gave birth to ten children without apparent problems, in spite of having damaged kidneys, and she raised a family of 6 to adulthood and now some of them have grandchildren. I've always felt that history would swerve to bring about some cataclysmic events within my lifetime, but if so, given that I'm closing in on 68, it better happen soon.