I see the same thing and still I feel like a bad son every time i leave the place.
As for getting old, it is inevitable of course and we will all die one day. Im just working to be prepared for that and not mess up too badly.
How old would you be if you did not know when you were born? A good question.
I don’t mind so much getting old as I do seeing it in others.
You are a good son. It’s gut-wrenching watching a parent decline.
For those on this thread looking for resources for parental care, my wife and I struck gold when we found my mother a “residential care home” run by Filipinos. They tend to be loving, family-oriented people. Far better than a commercial “assisted living” facility.
I drove a 110-mile round trip every other day of my favorite aunt's last year in the nursing home—one of the sweetest, kindest, funniest women ever. She was 99, and her two grown sons (my cousins, aged 65 or so), the one useless DIL and her grown grandsons couldn't be bothered— except the DIL's occasional trips to "clean and organize" my aunt's drawers and closet, which meant stealing her jewelry, and even some of the clothing and blankets I had bought for her.
When she died, they were too cheap to hire a pastor at the burial and asked me to drive the trip again to say prayers at the graveside. Then they said goodbye to me in the parking lot — didn't even spring for a Big Mac. Last I saw of them.
But I should be grateful, because then the useless DIL tried to disinherit the other brother. They must have had earplugs in during Sunday School. I know they were raised better than that. And the DIL -- always bragging about her church involvement. Makes you shake your head at what passes for righteousness these days.