Caroline Silva Pereira L. Ribeiro
Gerontology
September 13, 2012
The story that is going to be narrated in this paper is about my fictional twin Caramel. Her story is the same as mine and I am going to be writing about how her life would be like if she was alive at the age of 67 but everything else that she had planed went wrong. Caramel was born in Brazil and lived there until the age of 16. At that age her mother got married to an American man and she took that opportunity to come to the United States to work on become fluent in English. Caramel was a gymnast from the age of 6 till 17 years old. She gained a lot of muscle and flexibility practicing that sport. Caramel’s native language is Portuguese and she’s also fluent in English and Spanish. Her health was usually really good when she was on her 20s. She didn’t have to take any controlled medicine or any disabilities; she had an active life and a healthy diet. While in college Caramel had many dreams: She wanted to finish college, get her business degree then go to Physical Therapy School and become a successful physical therapist. Caramel also wanted to travel around the world with her best friend to explore different cultures and learn different languages. My twin had really high expectations for her future personal life too. She wanted to marry the love of her life and make a happy family with two or three kids. She also expected to still have all of her friends that she had made throughout life, around. At some point of her life, Caramel wanted to open a physical therapy office and help as much people, to overcome their injuries, as possible. Unfortunately, as we’ll get to see in this story, Caramel’s life didn’t go as planned at all. She faced many frustrations in her life that led her to give up hopes and not dream any more.
First, let’s start with Caramel’s physical conditions at the age of 67. She was a gymnast as a teenager and a very active adult. Because of that she had a lot o string muscle in her body. After turning 60 years old she didn’t have enough strength to exercise because of the breathing problems she acquired by living at the dusty basement at her aunt’s house. After a while not exercising Caramel lost all of her muscles and strength. Her metabolism slowed down 80% of what it was when she was 20; she gained a lot of weight and developed diabetes. As years went by Carmel’s stress level at work developed in her an excessive anxiety that induced her to eat sugar many times throughout the day in a attempt to lower her stress. As a consequence, she became obese and her blood pressure went up drastically. Her body got so heavy to the point that her bones couldn’t support it anymore. That problem added to the absence of calcium that she already had, led to osteoporosis. Her bones became so weak and fragile that she wasn’t able to walk or even get to bed, she turned out to be a completely depended person similarly to a baby.
Caramel’s social world wasn’t any better than her physical conditions at the age of 67. Most of the friends she had made throughout her life had passed away so Caramel barely had old friends. The people she hung with were her sons grandchildren. Every once in a while the members of the Christian organization she used to volunteer at would come have some tea and snacks with her. They were the only friends that she had left outside from the family. Her best friend was still her husband, the love of her life. He was her closest confidant.
Caramel’s aunt had to move to Alaska for personal reasons and since she was living at her aunt’s house and depending on her she had to move too. It was obviously really cold and boring over there. She never got to see the Sunlight, what led her to deep depression and lack of self-confidence. Especially because she had once lived in a big house that she owned but lost it in a big crisis. Her husband had to stay back in Omaha to try to work and make money to pay the loans they had pending.