Peter Leith is 89 and describes himself as ‘half-deaf and half-blind’, but he has never been one to dwell on his challenges. Palliative ‘self-care’ group continues his series of true short stories and observations titled Aspects of Ageing.
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About 11am every second Wednesday, my partner drives me to Dave’s house and then goes out with his wife June.
Dave is dying of cancer. I am, so far, just wearing out with old age but I write stories and Dave has so many to tell.
He talks. I listen, ask questions and we discuss what I have written since our previous meeting.
It is great to see how Dave gets fired up and I get quite carried away, too. He has so many fascinating stories to tell of his life as a cane grower.
Every other Wednesday, we both get dropped off at Clarrie’s place. Clarrie also has terminal cancer and is in a palliative care hostel.
For many years he was a shearer and then moved up (or was it down?) to a second career as an SP bookie! We don’t believe all his stories, but they are all worth listening to.
We have all agreed to do what we can to keep a small group going even after one of us ‘drops off our twig’.
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This is one of a series of short stories in a growing collection called Aspects of Ageing.
Do you have a story or an observation for Peter? Send it to [email protected] and put ‘Sunday’ in the subject line.
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