One day, the newspaper wasn't on her porch, and as she leaned down to retrieve it, she began falling, almost as if in slow motion. By this time, I was eight months pregnant, and lived catty-corner across the street, and began yelling for my dad. I slowed her fall, but even so, her son was "distressed" enough to put her in a nursing home. We pleaded with him, and promised to keep an eye on her, but he wouldn't budge.
On the day she went to the nursing home, she cried, and called out my name and said, "Please, don't let the take me." I felt so guilty and worthless. Her son and his wife showed no emotion. Every time we would visit, she would cry, and ask us to take her home. She died at the age of 101, never coming to terms with her environment. This haunts me to this day, as well as my family who loved her so much.
Her son died before she did, but she never knew, and never talked about him. Her funeral was paid for by the state, and the only people there were my family and a couple folks from the old neighborhood. She was such a good woman, only to be rejected because she 'lived too long'.
Oh where to begin? That old woman survived her son, MAYBE she was not so hot a mother. Borderline personality mothers always charm strangers at first.
NOT every old person was a great person or decent parent.
Abusive and neglectful parents grow old and feel awfully damn sorry for themselves and can look pitiful. But that doesn’t change that they lived a selfish life and treated their kids with no consideration.
I had such a parent and still have.
When some says what you said,
“Her son died before she did, but she never knew, and never talked about him. Her funeral was paid for by the state, and the only people there were my family and a couple folks from the old neighborhood. She was such a good woman, only to be rejected because she ‘lived too long’.”
You cannot say she was such a good woman, you have NO IDEA what kind of life she led, how she treated people when younger, nothing.