A retired couple "adopt" an elderly widow so as not to see her closed up in a retirement home
When we hear the word "adoption" we immediately think of orphaned children or children who cannot be cared for by their biological parents and who are waiting for a new loving family that can give them affection and attention; however, no one automatically thinks that of adoption where the adoptee is an elderly person, who may have lost their husband or wife and have no family to go to live with. Instead of spending the last few years of her life in a retirement home, this 86-year-old woman was "adopted" by a retired couple.
via CBC News
Marike Finlay and Karin Cope are a retired couple from Quebec Canada; throughout their adult lives they taught as full professors at McGill University but then decided they would spend their third age away from work in Nova Scotia; but they wouldn't be short of company...
The two women initially took a great liking to Elizabeth Bigras, an 86-year-old woman they had met when the old lady's husband was still alive; earlier in life she had been a very talented psychiatrist, but now Elizabeth was in danger of being left alone, with no one to look after her ...
In order to avoid seeing their friend end up in a retirement home, Karin and Marike decided to invite her often on their trekking or sailing trips; over time, the two women became very fond of the widow, so they made her a proposal that she could not refuse: to go and live with them!
Marike Finlay said: "We knew that if we invited Elisabeth to come and spend her retirement here with us, it would mean making a commitment to stay with her throughout her old age!"
Elisabeth Bigras has no children, and therefore after losing her husband, she would have been living alone in a retirement home; now instead, thanks to the good heart and affection of Marike and Karin, she has her own home, her space, her privacy, without being really alone: these three women have become one happy family!
Now, Marike, Karin and Elizabeth love to spend their well-deserved retirement on the coast of Nova Scotia, making many excursions into nature, spending time on the couple's sailboat and in the company of the family dog; many people are still baffled by the kind of family these three women have built, but the fact is that where love, affection and mutual respect reign, there will always be a home. And a perfect family.
