What is it really like to live in a nursing home? Anna Mae Halgrim Seaver wrote notes while she lived in one. After her death, her son found them and had them published.

“This is my world now. It’s all I have left. You see, I’m old. And, I’m not as healthy as I use to be. I’m not necessarily happy with it but I accept it. Occasionally, a member of my family will stop in to see me. He or she will bring me some flowers or a little present, maybe a set of slippers — I’ve got 8 pair. We’ll visit for awhile and then they will return to the outside world and I’ll be alone again.”

The full note, with attribution to Newsweek, is available on the ElderCare Rights Alliance website: My World Now. It is touching, and makes you want to immediately pick up the phone and call your mother or grandmother. I did.