Suddenly, They're All Gone

"Caring for the old is just like parenting an infant, only on really bad acid. It's all there: the head-spinning exhaustion, the fractured brain, the demands and smells. Only this time with the knowledge that it won't get better." Carol Mithers, wrote this essay the other day.

I have been thinking about my mom who took care of her in-laws for several years. She gave up a lot to do this but I never heard her complain. She was 'old school' in the sense the task was not a sacrifice to her but a call from her heart. I also think of parents of severely damaged service men and women, who also are sacrificing quietly, their lives for their children.

Throughout this world, caregivers, be they family, friends or lovers are quietly giving up the best years of their lives without medals, plaques or parades for what they know will be the inevitable epitaph … They Are Gone…..