I'm very glad to have received the responses I have with this thread. Thanks, cedars, for your kind words and I'll be hanging around and contributing more often now that I have a better situation. If any of you read my blog, I hope you will enjoy it. Life in the Deep South is profoundly different from what I experienced in the Rocky Mountain West--as different as night is from day. I find myself marveling that Alabama and Colorado are indeed integral parts of the same country and I feel fortunate to have lived in both states.
I had seen other people care for aged parents but seeing is one thing, doing it is quite another. Love is so important, especially when you see the man or woman who once was so vigorous, strong and competent now unsteady and unsure. Patience is taxed to the limit at times when the parent reverts back to the behavior of a child and can be uncooperative at times. Or the physical ailments they now suffer can put tremendous stress on everyone around them as well. That is when I remind myself that this frail woman loved me and cared for me when I didn't even know my own name. The least I can do now is care for her in the same way.
I am determined to remain active in different things. As I told my mother only yesterday, "A rolling stone gathers no moss, and I am not going to just sit around here doing nothing." That means traveling, meeting new people, and experiencing new things. That's how I lived my life in Colorado and there is no reason to not do the same in Alabama. I don't doubt that I will benefit greatly by remaining physically, mentally and emotionally engaged with my surroundings.
For now, I am still settling in to the new routine. Once that is established I can see how to add the other elements which are so important to me. With no WTS restrictions now to hinder my freedom, I can see how I can have a full life. My friends, I heartily recommend that you do likewise.
Quendi