Dear Carolyn: I believein dealing with problems by heading them off before they start. I’m my dad’sonly child and my stepmom has no children,so I know their problems astheyage will fallon me. When my dad retired, I insisted on two things for him that I knowcan prevent issues as you age: activity and engagement. Five years later heplays pickleball, volunteers two days a week, has lunch with his ex-colleagues at leastweekly and takes my son to soccer practice.
My stepmother,on the other hand,insists she’s fine since she still works part time as agraphic designer, runs almost daily, walks her dog and sees a couple of friendsregularly.
The problem is that we all know AI will soon put all graphic artists out ofbusiness, she won’t be running long after she hits 70, andshe seesthese friends at most once a month.That leaveswalking her dog as her long-term plan for oldage. Not good on either the engagement or activity front.
No matter how hard I try,sheisn’t interested in golf, tennis or even pickleball.She won’t volunteerormake newfriends, and her engagement with my son is mostly superficial.
How do Iget through to her that she’s headed for disaster?