So this weekend, I headed out to Colorado to see my grandfather. He has been staying at a nursing home here, and was doing better than I thought he might be. Though it is not a bad one relatively, being in the nursing home made me evermore aware of how important social services and health care really are. Socializing health care should certainly include socializing nursing homes, as I could see them being so much more. And as Hubert humphrey once said (and I’ll slander with this paraphrase), you can tell a lot about a nation by the way they treat those in the twilight of life.
Regardless, it was a good weekend. We spent time with my grandfather, taking him to restaurants and driving him out into the mountain/countryside. The Earth here is so raw and jagged. Buildings and population are sparse. It seems more natural - rough, unyielding - and I find a certain amount of solace just staring bleakly and blankly at it from a crowded back seat.
There’s been plenty for me to think about, both generally in my life and from discoveries made during the trip. Lots of fodder and free time has given me an opportunity to sit back and be considerate of the world and my place in it as of now. I find a certain amount of contentment in such reflection.
