My mom and dad have moved to Seattle. My mother is going to be 77 years old in September. This is easy for me to remember because she was 40 years old when she had me and I'm going to be 37 the end of August. My dad is 6 years younger and this was never really a big difference, until my mother started to get old, and by old I mean "less abled."
My parents have been married for almost 38 years and lived in the suburbs of Chicago for a little over 40 years. They have another adult child, my younger brother Matt. Matt and his beautiful wife and three babies live in the suburbs of Chicago. This was probably the major obstacle that delayed my parents move to Seattle.
Why did they move to Seattle after 40 years, leaving behind 3 grand-babies?
Several reasons, in no particular order:
- I'm their favorite (sometimes).
- My dad needs my help. He's been caregiving by himself for the past few years and I'm not quite sure either of them is aware of how much energy this has taken from both of them. My mom is not ready to let him help her and he's not quite sure how to do it.
- My mom needs an advocate, and a major change to try and get her medical issues resolved. I only see my parents about every six months for the past 3 years and it appears I'm the only one who can recognize the degree of change that takes place over that period of time.
