My dad just turned 72 years old last month, and he shows no sign of slowing down.
He still plays football with his friends and is active in city issues.
He prefers to ride his bike to the park and feed the chickens at his friends farm. He mows his own lawn, trims his shrubs and keeps entirely active. My dad lives alone in the house that I grew up in. He is seriously independent, but I worry about him. I make an effort to call him once a day and usually stop in and see him. I was still unhappy about him being on his own. What if he fell down and got injured? What if there was a break-in or a fire? For my dad’s birthday, I invested in a whole home security system for him and had it installed. It has taken my dad a little while to get accustomed to it. For the first month, he was constantly setting off the alarm. Fortunately, the monitoring supplier calls both he and I and asks for a code word before contacting the authorities. My dad has now figured out how to disarm the system. There are motion sensors located all the way around the perimeter of the property. If a truck enters the driveway, a beep alerts him. If someone rings the doorbell, he’s able to see who it is without opening the door. The surveillance cameras supply a view of every spot, and he can watch them on his cellphone or computer. If there’s an emergency, he has access to a panic code. So far, his favorite portion of the security system is the cameras, because he enjoys getting alerted when there’s a little animal in his yard. He watches chipmunks, squirrels, foxes, moles and geese.