What were your parents doing at your age?

I am a few weeks from 60. At the age I am now, my father made the decision to take early retirement to care for my mother. My mother had three strokes and the last one left her partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair. When left alone during the day, my mother tried to hang on to what she called her dignity, and was trying to be self sufficient and found herself sliding in the wheelchair and she was unable to stop it and found herself on the floor and the receiver to the house phone was in the bag on her wheelchair that had rolled behind her to the other side of the room. My sister just happened to come home to find her crying and praying on the floor. She was unable to get my mother off the floor and firemen came to help. My mother was mortified and scared to be alone.

The next four years would be filled with ups and downs. We lost her two months after her 64th birthday. In those four years, my father, the tough marine, the former St Louis police officer, the booming voice preacher, the don’t mess around Houston school teacher, was so gentle with her, helping her bathe, to change clothes, getting her in and out of bed and the same for her wheelchair and the car. He would often take her on long drives in the country, near a river so she could hear the water.

Even with the situation, at my age now, my parents had each other and the love they shared since they were 17 years old. They had unconditional love for each other, holding tight to the “in sickness and health, til death do us part” portion of their wedding vows and an incredible example for us all.