Mankind has evolved its own cocoon mentality as we, as individuals move through the various stages of our lives but it is not always a surety that the format which we anticipated would resemble a cocoon as we grow old, will come to fruition.
Life has a knack of throwing up the curved ball and just when you thought that your innings was assured along comes the hitch, the unexpected, the unplanned. How we react to being out in the cold again is a measure of character and a realisation that the best laid plans of mice and men are nothing other than "plans", reality is something different.
The resilience of a person depends on many things not least age and opportunity. When young life stretches out into the future, today's let down is simply the mechanics of of ones existence, changing gear and there's always tomorrow and the day after. The middle years are creative in that marriage and children bring a perspective that we had no inkling about and much was made, on the hoof, learning as you go.
The cocoon was the family and the security one gained by the love you gave and received during that time. Of course the cocoon was based on an assumption that all parties were buying into the experience and that the bonds formed were indestructible.
People come in all shapes and sizes and on many emotional levels. Some are pragmatic, some sentimental, some evolve some dissolve, some find their reason for emotional growth, to be the result of having wider responsibility from the narcissism of youth, some find responsibility difficult particularly personal responsibility when it comes to blaming others for their own short-comings and we all have plenty of those !!
The cocoon is at its most vulnerable when old age arrives and the reality of failed dreams becomes apparent. The instinctive care and the hand holding we all need as we begin our decline, is held as reflecting our journey through life and the friendship that should be there as the bond that kept a couple, a couple.
Too often the bond has been hollowed out and the reason to keep the cocoon in-tact is, in some ways lost or questioned. Of course at a time when the individual is at their most vulnerable the intricate support people lend each other is thrown away with little to put in its place.
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