Who's Going to Take Care of You when You're Old?

Spinsterlicious

I think I drove a nice, but naive, woman a little crazy yesterday. I hope I also gave her something to think about. Here's what happened. She and her kid sat beside me on a train to Long Island. I made the mistake of saying her kid was cute. The kid was cute --that wasn't the mistake-- but my comment opened the door to a much too long conversation that eventually led itself to me telling this woman I had no husband and no kids…and that I was ok with that.


Then this happened:


Lady: Oh no! Well, who's going to take care of you when you're old?


Me: I don't know for sure. Who's going to take care of you when you're old?


Lady: Well, I have a husband and kids. They'll take care of me.


Me: How do you know that?


And my "How do you know that" question is when I think she wished she had just chosen a different seat. I went on to lay out all the reasons she was no more secure in her old age than I am. You see, life is really uncertain; there just aren't any guarantees. It would be wonderful if every woman who had a husband and/or kids could be assured of a loving, cared-for old age. Unfortunately, that's just not necessarily true. I went on to explain to her:


A husband is no guarantee.



http://www.thespinsterliciouslife.com/2012/04/whos-going-to-take-care-of-you-when.html