Clarine Taylor
May 18, 2022
When I was 13, my father died and my mother remarried. My stepfather was a good man, he took in 4 kids, me and my siblings. My mother used to drink and smoke and she had cancer. She died young, she was only 55. I grew up really fast and never really had a role model to look up to.
My husband and I had 5 children. I was practically a stay-at-home mom till my children grew up. Then I went to work in a book publishing firm and all kinds of other places.
After our retirement, my husband and I enjoyed ourselves. It was all great, until my husband passed away. This was almost 20 years ago. He died very suddenly so I had no time to prepare for his death. He had a brain aneurysm and didn’t even last the night.
When I was 13, my father died and my mother remarried. My stepfather was a good man, he took in 4 kids, me and my siblings. My mother used to drink and smoke and she had cancer. She died young, she was only 55. I grew up really fast and never really had a role model to look up to.
My husband and I had 5 children. I was practically a stay-at-home mom till my children grew up. Then I went to work in a book publishing firm and all kinds of other places.
After our retirement, my husband and I enjoyed ourselves. It was all great, until my husband passed away. This was almost 20 years ago. He died very suddenly so I had no time to prepare for his death. He had a brain aneurysm and didn’t even last the night.
It was lonely after he died, but I wasn’t alone. My son and his son moved in with me. Raising that second family really helped me. For the first week after he died, I stayed home and cried. I missed him so much. But I soon realized, I didn’t have time to do that! My grandson was a year old and I looked after him, there was no time to mope and feel sorry for myself.
Because of my breathing problem, for a while I was stuck at home. But now that I have transportation services I can get out and do things I enjoy. I come here to the Active Living Centre, we exercise, play bingo and have lunch together. It’s nice to be able to get out and meet people my own age and share stories with them.
We can’t stay home and grieve, we have to get out of the house and keep living. If you don’t get out and do something, you’ll atrophy. Everything gets useless and you’ll never get out of bed.
I get out as much as I can, do whatever I can. I love playing bingo, and I love meeting people my own age here at SCHC. My age doesn’t hold me back.
I read in the papers recently about an 80-year old woman going swimming and lots of other things! I can’t do that obviously because of my breathing problem, but I come to SCHC and enjoy myself as much as I can. I have 5 children, 8 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren and I’m proud of every one of them! When I’m gone I hope people will remember me as a good mother and grandmother, a good friend and kind person.
I am happy, my life is full of family and good friends here at SCHC. Every day that I wake up is a happy day.