A must have survival guide when your parents are older!

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"Elderly Parents With All Their Marbles:  A Survival Guide for the Kids" by Pamela Carey is one of those books that you don't know you need until you need it.  When your parents become older, the children have to make difficult decisions.  These could include moving them out of a home that they have owned for decades, selecting nursing homes and in-home care, and when it is time to "let them go" if that is what they decide.

Instead of having to learn what to do at the time you need to make a decision, it might be better to read about someone else's trials, errors, and learning moments.  Carey has beautifully broken down her experiences into 49 "rules" for people to consider along with her experiences with her parents that caused her to develop the rules in the first place.

I found this book to be an easy read and full of insights.  My parents are getting to the age that some of these rules might come into play.   I plan on sharing this book with my brother so that we can put together a "game plan" and be on the same pages with our decisions.  Thank you, Pamela, for sharing your experiences in this great "survival guide!"

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Go back in time, without having to invest in a Tesla Time Machine.

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Jokers and Dandies by Sharon Schuler Kreps is a book that you could expect to find if you opened up a time capsule and made it past the Atari game console and eight track tapes.  It is Kreps' collection of memories about her family as she grew up in that decade, complete with crazy relatives and great grandmothers which adjectives can't describe.

Kreps goes into what life was like with a whole menagerie of animals - from pigs to parrots.  Add to that an older sister whose mission in life is to torture her younger sister, and two younger brothers, and there is a recipe for mayhem.

The book comes off as if Kreps is sitting next to you with a glass of wine from a box at your first family reunion and sharing stories that no one wants told about them.  You will learn and remember things about the seventies that you may have forgot (or which you could!) along with many things about her family that you may not want to know (I can never think of the term "dinner bells" in quite the same way anymore).

If you like light hearted stories and want to take a trip back in time without having to rig up your own DeLorean time machine and go back to the future, then Jokers and Dandies might be the most economical way to make the journey!