Based on an interview with my grandma, Bien Nguyen who is my father’s mom, she claims to be 77 years old, based on her zodiac animal of a dragon. She does not know her exact birthday and only kept track of the year she was born, based on her lunar calendar animal. My grandma’s chronological age is middle old, but her functional age is young-old based on her performance of still being exceptionally active and going on two-mile walks everyday and swimming three times a week (Berk, 2009). In addition to being exceptionally active, my grandma has always been a swimmer. Although she cannot swim as fast as she used to, she still swims at least three times a week and completes aerobic exercises in the pool. In addition, she loves walking at least two miles every morning when she wakes up at five am. My grandma is still able to perform activities of daily living, such as dressing, bathing, getting out of bed, and eating with no assistance (Berk, 2009). The only health problem that my grandma has faced was hypertension. She counteracts this health problem by exercising everyday and eating healthy meals that consist of a lot of fish, vegetables, fruits, and brown rice. She does have a hunched back, possibly due to a loss in bone density, but does not use any type of stability equipment to keep her body up (Berk, 2009). Also, she does not have the best hearing, but does not have any hearing aids to accommodate that issue. Our family has offered to get her some, but she told us that she would never wear them because she does not like how they look and or feel in her ear. Hearing decreases with age because of stiff membranes, cell death, and less blood supply in the inner ear (Berk, 2009). Also, with the risks of cataracts increasing with age, it did not apply to my grandma. She has the best vision in our family with 20/20 vision and only wears fake glasses for the looks of it. My grandma likes how glasses give her a more sophisticated appearance. With my grandma increasing in age, she came over to America and lived with my parents in 2015 because she has not seen my dad, the second oldest child, since the day he left Vietnam on a second wave boat with six of his other siblings. In addition, my grandma has never met my
I remember asking my grandma, years ago, why she dyed her hair blonde. Her response was simply, “Grey doesn't look good on me.” Her judgements toward other aging people have accelerated, to the point that she is constantly comparing her physical appearance as well as her capabilities to others of her age. After experiencing extreme back pain, two rounds of breast cancer, and an infection onset from a surgery, she is still out and about, constantly testing her limits. We will ask her if she is okay, and she quickly shuts us down and continues to walk, even though her groaning and slow pace are obvious signs that she is reaching her maximum. Her constant fear of “growing old” has caused her to push herself beyond her limits, causing even more pain and suffering to her body.
My great-grandmother was raised by her mom, dad, and other relatives. She, and many cousins, were raised up as brother and sister in a close-knit family. Harriett Marshall, my great-grandmother, was born in Saltillo, Tennessee on January 7, 1931. She has lived through many trying times. It is a blessing to live through so many events that changed the nation, even the world. She has lived through the following events and many more: The Great Depression, World War II, the historic signing of Jackie Robinson, Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights movement and many more.
I chose to interview my grandmother, Maryann Metzger. I chose her because she is probably one of the strongest people I know. I wanted to learn more about her childhood. After talking with her I realized that she may not remember a lot about women’s rights at that time but she does remember segregation. Through this I learned many things that I didn’t know before.
When aging statistics are looked upon in a positive light, it shows that 90-94% of people aged 65 or older and 70% of people aged 85 years or older are unlikely to experience the effects of dementia (Chapman et al 2). This means that the majority of seniors will remain present in their minds and have the ability to function cognitively equal to anyone else. In addition, recent research reveals “[t]he effects of the aging process itself have been exaggerated, and the modifying effects of diet, exercise, personal habits, and psychosocial factors underestimated” (Rowe and Kahn 143). Older adults who practice a healthy lifestyle, remain active and involved in their community, significantly lower
My grandparents had three daughters, one son, and one adopted son. The adopted son is named Peter and he my uncle in Santa Ana. The oldest son is named Vongpat and he works at Leprino food. The youngest daughter is named Vongthong. She is the person who likes fashion very much and I know this because she wears a lot of high fashion brands like Louis Vuitton and others. The oldest daughter is named Vongdevane and she has a disability that makes her unable to speak. The second oldest daughter would be my mother name Vongseng and she is right now taking care of the family and supporting me in school. When my grandparent just started to live in the United States, they worked in a factory that paid minimum wage, which was about three dollars and fifty cents per hour. Now my grandparents are free from the welfare system, they now live a normal life after working hard in their
I interview my maternal great-grandmother, Jane Franklin. She is 81 years old and she was born in Shelter Island, Long Island, NY. She currently lives in Aiken, SC, but she just recently moved from Chula Vista, CA. Both of her grandparents were born in New York. Her mother was born in Aiken, SC, and her father was born in Corona, Queens, NY. She grew up in New York City with her mother, sister, and brother in an urban setting. Many African American families also lived in their neighbors
So i spent the night at my grandma and grandpas and in the morning we all woke up in the morning we all got in the van and all the kids including me took nap in back and when we got there we had to put camper up and take boat to ramp to get it to the campsite
This is my Grandfather Lowell Fetters, my mothers father. He was drafted into the war at 19 in 1967 and shipped off to war at 20 in 1968 a year after graduating from Ludington high school. He is now 69 years old. He lived in Ludington Michigan with his wife before we were involved in the war. He now lives in Muskegon Michigan He served in the war, and now he just plays pool with his friends. I interviewed him on February 28th over the phone, we talked for 30 minutes.
Before I began this project, I jotted a few notes down as to what I thought the definition of faith was. All that really came to my mind was that faith is simply one’s belief in God. In a quest to further understand the true meaning of faith, I needed to find someone with a Catholic background and effusive wisdom. I immediately knew who I was going to interview.
I will always remember going to grandma's house on christmas eve,me and my family are so excited to open presents, eat the great food and spend time with family.My grandma has three kids, my mom and my uncles.She has two sisters and five brothers.She was born on 1046 at Celina.Grandma has two grandkids me and my brother Collin.My grandma is sweet loving and generous.
It all began when I was about five years old, having sleepovers in my great grandma’s room. She loved telling stories and playing dress up with me. In her room she kept a lot of pillows on her bed. She had fancy pillows in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and textures. Every time I entered her room, she would allow me to jump around on the bed filled with pillows. All that jumping around and having all that fun felt amazing, and that's when I fell in love with one of her pillows and named it Bobby.
The old adage that age is a bliss may not be necessarily true in light of the complexities that the elderly face in their old age. Fundamentally, the elderly tend to experience a range of changes in their bodies as they age. From the onset of menopause to the rest of the person’s life, the elderly continually experience changes in their bodies. Some of these changes cause them to be increasingly irritable while others cause them to develop some depression related ailments. The elderly tend to be frail in their musculoskeletal structures as their joints start wearing out, thereby causing them to develop osteoporosis. One may not adequately comprehend the extent to which these changes impact the elderly’s life until a face-to-face interaction
I enjoyed reading your interview with your Grandmother, she sounds so much like my Grandmother. How she grew up also sounds a lot like how I grew up, just different times. We didn’t have a lot of money but we were happy. My Mother worked her whole life and still works today, she had lots of trouble raising four children until she met my Dad who adopted us. I remember we were getting canned food delivered to our trailer at one point before she met my Dad. It all changed when my Dad found my Mom and married her and took on all four of us. For some reason, I couldn’t help but to remember making mud pies and building forts in our yard. That was one thing we did have was a huge back yard with a fence, so we would pretend the yard was our ocean full of sharks. We would climb around the fence and if we fell, we got eaten by the sharks. For some reason this interview made me think of those great memories.
I remember it like it was yesterday, even though I was only three. We were all at home;
The moment I was informed about this oral history report, only one person came to my mind when deciding who to compose this project about. This person was my grandfather. He was an inspiration in my life. This project has given me the opportunity to reflect back onto my grandfather’s stories and historical accomplishments for on March 19, 2012 was the day my grandfather Richard “Joel” Pettingell left this earth. There was no such thing as a dull moment in my grandfather’s life. The time I got to spend with my grandfather filled my head with only a faction of the life he lived. To help elaborate on the high lights of my grandfather’s historical moments, I interviewed my uncle James Pettingell. During the interview we chronologically