Fear of Your Parents’ Old Age

“There is a break in the family history, where the ages accumulate and overlap, and the natural order makes no sense: it’s when the child becomes the parent of their parent.”

It’s when the father grows older and begins to move as if he were walking through fog. Slowly, slowly, imprecisely.

It’s when one of the parents who once held your hand firmly when you were little no longer wants to be alone.

It’s when the father, once strong and unbeatable, weakens and takes two breaths before rising from his seat.
…
Our last lesson. An opportunity to return the care and love they gave us for decades.
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We cannot leave them for even a moment.
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Happy is the child who becomes the parent of their parent before their death, and unfortunate is the child who only appears at the funeral and doesn’t say goodbye a little each day.

…

Rocking his father back and forth. Caressing his father. Calming his father. And he said softly:

I’m here, I’m here, Dad! “What a father wants to hear at the end of his life is that his child is there.”