Abby and William had lived a wonderful life together. They loved every moment of it and were happy that their relationship had lasted the whole time. All the ups and downs they went through only brought them together. There was a time after James was cancer free where Abby and William had to take care of both their parents and James, which was a lot for them to handle. They had to make sure they were able to go to work for reasonable and get all their work done, and come home to take care of James, as well as their parents.
They were the sandwich generation for a while, for the time when their siblings were still in school. After their siblings got out of school, together they decided, with their parents, that it would be best for them to move into separate, smaller homes. 7% of the senior population lives in institutions, but they decided that they didn't want to do that. They wanted to live together in nice little condos, near their children, so they could easily visit them. Both Abby and William, along with their siblings, felt like they should help support their parents. They had taken care of them for so many years and thought that it was their turn to take care of. This is called Filial Piety and was a more common way of thinking in the past.
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After finding them homes near each other, Abby and William, they focused on raising James to be the best man he could be. He ended up choosing a career in medicine and soon moved out with his girlfriend. They decided it was time to retire. They had been working for almost 40 years and they thought it was time to spend time with each other, without having to work. They were also getting really old, so their health wasn't the same as it was before. They couldn't sit for many hours working and got tired very quickly.
Retirement started off very boring for both of them. They didn't know what to do with themselves not that they had all this free time. They needed something to do in all this free time so they decided to take up some hobbies. They went to some classes together, which only increased their love for each other. Even though they had lived together for many years, they were seeing a new part of each other in these classes. They made new friends at these classes too.
Abby realized something while in these classes, her personality had not changed for a very long time. After she had gotten a job and moved in with William, she experienced very little change in her identity. She almost always had the same reaction to situations and knew how to deal with them. She realized that she was happy with who she was and didn't want to change for anyone. This is an example of the Stability Template Model because Abby didn't really change throughout her life and her identity was stable throughout her adult life.
William also realized something while in these classes, he had changed throughout his life, but they weren't drastic changes. During the time when James was in middle school, William had changed his career slightly. He realized he didn't want to help children, it was breaking his heart seeing how those children were treated and in reality he couldn't really do anything to help. He changed to helping people with drug problems. This was a major change to his identity, since he had always wanted to help kids in need, ever since he was little. He had experienced little changes throughout his life that shaped who he is today, and he was happy with the person he had become. This is an example of Orderly Change Model. This is because William had his identity developed, but as he went through different interactions with his environment, he changed.
Both Abby and William were happy how they had lived their lives. They had raised a wonderful little boy, and had made it through many ups and downs together. They were now enjoying their retirement by taking part in many clubs and activities , and made sure to visit James, when they could. They were very happy they had found each other and couldn't wait to live the rest of their lives together.
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Holloway, Maureen, et al. Individuals and Families: Diverse Perspectives. W. Ross MacDonald School Resource Services Library, 2018.
