aMAEzing GRACE ! by Mae Grace Taking Care of Our Ageing Parents
I remember the time when my family here in Japan including the grandparents would sit together after dinner and talked about future arrangements for their children when they would be old and gray and incapable of fending for themselves. Our constant reply would be, “You are both in the peak of health, please don’t worry yourselves about such things, yet. You are still young”. Truth was, in private, we were worried then because we all have our full time jobs and even the
24
grandchildren were already starting on their own and having their own life and career to think of ahead of them. There were numerous questions in our minds, countless “what ifs” --- Kaya kaya natin maging care giver sa obaachan at ojiichan? Meron kaya tayong
pasensya sa pakikinig sa mga paulit ulit nilang kwento na di man nakakasawa ay naiiba pa ang mga detalye sa bawat pag ulit ng kwento? Are we open to get every phone call at any time of the day even when we know these would be just meaningless chatter and all about their uneventful day or maybe just to complain about a stomach ache? Could we appease them when sleep would not befall them and they would want you to keep them company until they would finally doze off while you would be left
exhausted and unproductive at work the next day? Fast forward twenty years later, here we are, about to live out those ‘what ifs’ and start to walk our talk. And we are left with this nagging question: Are we capable of making our parents a top priority in our life, now
January - February 2021
