A few months ago, people online on Reddit were caught discussing the idea of adopting elderly people who need care. Many shared how adopting old people who don’t have anyone else in their lives would make their lives so much easier.
And one couple, Marike Finlay and Karin Cope from Canada, actually did it! According to a report by CBC, the two have ‘adopted’ a woman who is 20-years senior to them and have been living together for the past many years.
Finlay and Cope, who worked as professors McGill University, met the elderly woman, 86-year-old Elisabeth Bigras through the latter’s late husband. After her husband died, Bigras became good friends with the couple.
All three of them used to live in Quebec City before. However, when the couple decided to move to Nova Scotia coast, they asked Elisabeth to come along. And she did!
“We knew that if we were inviting Elisabeth to come and retire here with us, that meant that we were committing to be with her throughout her old age,” Finlay said.
The women have been living in West Quoddy in Nova Scotia, sharing a household together. They cook, eat, and spend time together just like any other family.
Finlay thinks their choice to adopt Elisabeth has given her the “support” she needs.
She goes on to say that adopting elderly people “beats putting them in the old age home.”
“Maybe it takes a village also to keep an elder, not just to raise a child,” she adds.
What an incredible story!
Cover pictures: source.