Movie in class...

Last week in class, Professor said “leave your monitors down; you won’t be using the computers today.” I thought to myself, “oh shoot, here is a pop quiz… and I didn’t read the textbook yet (Just kidding, I always read the text like a good student would, right?)!” All of a sudden, I get a sigh of relief. We are watching a movie instead. Yes! Can’t wait to see what we are watching.

The movie starts with an old lady singing. I didn’t know what to think of it yet. As it started rolling along, I thought this class would be a long class period. We are watching a movie about old people. But as it progresses, I started getting into the video more. I even cracked a laugh or two during the video. I didn’t know getting older meant including more fun and smiles. That is one thing that I can look at while I get older everyday; life will still be fun. I can’t sing now but maybe when I get older, it will sound so much better. Am I just kidding myself about singing? I can’t sing now, probably won’t be able to later in life. Anyways, it made me realize more things about the older folks. They can still have fun no matter the age. When they were rehearsing, it looked like most of the older folks had a lot of fun. Even though the composer was not friendly at all times, most were still laughing, enjoyed each other’s company, and welcomed back with joy old friends who were battling with illnesses.

Watching the movie also made me do some thinking about my folks and grandparents. Both of my grandparents suffered from strokes. It is becoming a common problem for the older generation, especially the ones my grandparent’s age, to suffer from strokes. First, a lot of the Hmong came from eating rice, plant roots, and whatever vegetables that they could grow to having a diverse choice of foods here in America. Second, a lot of the elders do not know how to drive or speak English fluently. In turn, most of the elders stay home and are not as active. If you combine the diverse choice of foods and not having a healthy, fit life style, there may be issues later in life. Since their strokes, I have tried to take my grandparents out more on a routinely basis. My grandpa and I go fishing a lot during the warmer times of the year. We also do a lot of hiking and hunting during the cooler times of the year. My grandma, on the other hand, is not as mobile anymore. She is in a wheel chair now. Her activities are more limited but include her grand kids walking her around the neighborhood park and walking around in the local mall and stores.

It is nice to see elderly people still enjoying life at that age. Hopefully I can make use of what I have learned and help my grandparents out a little. Maybe we grand kids can put a smile or two into our grandparent’s lives. The movie really opened up another view of the later years in life; it can still be very fun and enjoyable. It was nice to see the elderly people laugh, smile, and still flirt a little.