When my stepmother got senile we had to take away her car, "importing" my brother from Hawaii (to Maryland) to do it as it was my stepsister and myself and my mother would "listen" better to a "man". Anyway, after the week or two after my brother went home, my stepmother would call my stepsister and myself and would alternately revile us/call us names and "plead" to be allowed to have her car/drive, using arguments like, "my friends still drive and they're older than I am!" :-) Losing the familiar is very hard, I'm already worrying about that for myself now that I'm retired.

It's extremely odd getting interested in something on TV and then realizing it has to do with careers/jobs/working and I'm not "part of" that anymore. So, what am I part of? Too, as I get older I notice that I've "tried" most of my interests, skills, etc. and "been there, done that" and there's less "new" to pull me forward. I worry that my world will get smaller and smaller and smaller, etc. through no fault or ability to "correct" on my own, that's just how it will be. I can see how moving out of one's house into an assisted living or nursing home would really devastate one. Sometimes I try to imagine what I'll "do" when I can't drive (especially in the evenings), my eyes and ears are pretty much gone (won't be able to read/study or do much on the computer? or listen to the TV, which like music evolution will be about subjects I won't be tuned into/interested in anymore), and what have you. I can seriously see how many elderly get depressed!