We all want to do what we can in life to make things as comfortable and pleasant as possible for our aging parents. In a healthy family, it is expected that the children will care for the parents and sometimes, this means making a difficult decision.
The son in the following story made a decision for his mother and he thought it would be best if she lived the rest of her life in a facility. He never heard any complaints out of her and he visited on occasion.
The thing is, there comes a time when we all need to face the inevitable and when she faced it, she told him something that he will never forget. We can’t guarantee the story is true but we can tell you that you should bring your tissues.
After his father’s death, the son decided to leave his mother at an old age home and visited her on and off. Once he received a call from the old age home, saying, “Mom is very serious, please come to visit.”
The son rushed and found his mom in critical condition, lying on her deathbed. He asked, “Mom, what can I do for you?”
Mom replied, “Please install fans in the old age home, there are none. Also, put a fridge for better food storage because many times I slept without food.”
The son was surprised and asked, “Mom, while you were here, you never complained. Now, with only a few hours left, you are telling me all this. Why?”
Mom replied, “It’s OK, dear. I’ve managed with the heat, hunger, and pain. But when your children will send you here, I am afraid you will not be able to manage! She warned me vehemently to take care of what I leave behind and said that this is why she wants to modernize the old age home because she feared that one day, perhaps, my children would abandon me there, and I would experience what she did. Her final words were, ‘What you give is what you get.’”
