househunting:

Hi househunting, this is not a house but it’s related to old people who often live in cool old houses i know it’s a reach please deal with me and hear me out for two seconds. 

I saw this gif on reddit and at first I thought it was cute but then it made me sad. Something as simple as a complimentary piece of cake on her birthday made this lady so happy. I started googling senior citizen statistics and found that 1/3 of US senior citizens live alone, and more than half of them are women. More than one in five elderly people in the US are “elder orphans” – old people without any family at all. That breaks my fucking heart !!!!!!!!! Imagine that everyone you know is dead or gone, you don’t use technology so you can’t connect via the internet with anyone else, and you have health problems so you cannot get out to do social things in public, even shopping. It would be so painfully isolating. 

Old people are actually the best (if they aren’t the asshole racist kind). They have great stories, cool antiques, and probably have better hobbies than you. When I was in preschool we used to make holiday gifts and walk to the nursing home and sing the old people songs and give them gifts and it made them so happy. I really wanted to get involved and do something about feeling so shitty about this so I just signed up to volunteer with Full Life Care here in Seattle, an organization that pairs a young person with an elder orphan to hang out with them, help them with errands, and give them gifts throughout the year.  I encourage you to do the same!!!! Google things like “adopt a senior citizen” or “elderly partner program” to find one in your area. I think this is a great way to volunteer and help someone who really needs it!! 

The time commitment is LOW – just a couple hours a month. The one in Seattle just asks for 2-3 short visits a month – I’m sure most people can spare an hour or less a week. I look forward to hearing your stories if you do this!