Author: Deon Hayley
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Roy realized his parents’ old friend was widowed and lived about a mile away. He set up a time to visit her with our kids. Edith, a little old lady of 84, had wild white hair and sparse teeth. In an old-fashioned housecoat, she spent an hour sharing details of her past and present life.…
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Jacqueline lay calmly in a hospital bed as the kind young doctor gave his report. He sympathetically explained, “I’m sorry that the ovarian cancer has continued to grow despite all the treatments. The cancer is terminal at this point, and in fact, you may only have weeks to months to live. We recommend hospice, where…
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Symptoms Kenneth was shaking and couldn’t sleep. Maybe two cups of coffee a day was too much at 88 years old, he thought. He completely stopped drinking coffee and the one square of chocolate he savored in the afternoon but continued to tremble. Kenneth told his son about his shaking on a couple of occasions,…
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Ella passed away last week at age 84. I have cared for her since she was admitted to the nursing home 2 years ago. Her granddaughter called me wanting to know the cause of death. In old age, the cause of death is often the wrong question, as the end is usually not a single…
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Jason’s parents thought they were nearly done raising children when he came along. They were 41 and surprised but thankful for him. They were older than his contemporaries’ parents and felt like it. Their lessened energy to pour into Jason started a crack. In his twenties, the fissure grew when Jason married, moved 9 hours…
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Blanche carefully pulled the freshly washed sheet up over her mother. Cornelia was just a teeny wisp of an old lady now bedbound with her arthritic arms and legs contracted into a semi-fetal position. The family situated her bed on cinderblocks in the open dining room where their lives intersected, and Blanche provided all her…