Parents are checking their babies to make sure they develop normally - according to developmental milestones. These are all positive - babies start laughing and engaging, gaining strength in their movements. These are cognitive and physical developments.
When we look at development in late adulthood, the greatest attention by experts seems to be cognitive. The famous psychologist Erik Erikson says the milestones is to resolve the conflict of integrity vs despair. That means satisfaction in life rather than bitterness and disillusionment.
Gene Cohen was a student of Erikson's and developed these stages - there are four of them and include these: Liberation late 50s to 70s - experimentation and innovation, liberation not compliance, innovation and willingness to take risks.Summing Up late 60s through 80s - Review of one's life and resolution and desire to give back. Final ages 70s until end of life - reflection and celebration with reexamination, liberation and summing up.
At a general level, that is interesting. But some days, I am more interested in what I should be attending to in terms of the physical. On the physical side, the Mayo Clinic goes through a list of what to expect as you get older.
The first thing they cover is the cardiovascular system in which the blood vessels and arteries stiffen causing our hearts to work harder. The risk is high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems. Then the bones, joints and muscles - everything shrinks and we lose strength, endurance and flexibility. Digestive system? Structural changes in the large intestine can result in constipation. And the bladder and urinary tract becomes less elastic, and it becomes difficult to empty the bladder completely. And the one everyone comments on - memory and thinking skills. Forgetting is the familiar result. There's more - eyes, ears, teeth, weight and so on. There are a lot of parts of the human body to start declining.
That seems to be the conclusion today.
When we moved to Grimsby, this was one of the garden focal points along Main Street. It is gone now. I guess the house was sold and this wasn't the new owners idea of an attractive feature. How did it get assembled up there? How long did it take to put it up?
