Yet Another Worn Out One

SO very tired of babysitting the 90 year old toddlers. And then, if I dare slip in a "politically incorrect" complaint, I get some mealy-mouthed comment from someone who says "my mama was my best friend." Or "to have your parents still with you is a BLESSING." Or "you're a GOOD DAUGHTER!" There are so many comments here - almost all posted by "Anonymous." But whoever said they wised up and realized that WE have prolonged the lives of these folks unnaturally by excessive care-taking was spot on!

"Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long..." Yeah, right.

I've spent over 35 years in recovery from addiction and alcoholism. Writing inventories.

Owning "my part" in what went wrong in my life. Forgiving them. "They did the best they could." Being of service to them and other people I don't respect. In and out of therapy. Prayer and meditation. You name it, I've done it.

Trying to be GOOD to two blockheads who beat me, ridiculed me, shamed me, put ZERO value on educating "a girl who's just going to get married and have kids anyway." My own father tried to pimp me out to a high-bidding, would-be husband who was a friend of his. NICE!

My only sister moved 1,500 miles away many years ago to get away from them. Our mentally ill, demented, vicious mother was finally hauled out in hand cuffs for beating the tar out of our father on a daily basis. Wouldn't see a doctor of any sort.

Because "they all make passes at me." Sure, Mom. NO ONE believed us! "AWW, your mom is cute! So feisty, ha ha." "Come on, where's your sense of humor??" Etc. I note all these comments came from people whose own parents had died at normal human being ages.

That they were all getting to lead their own lives - and had been doing so for many moons. Mom has finally now passed away. Dad's 95 and is now having the time of his life - driving me further around the bend with each passing day.

A few days ago, he MOCKED one of my chronic illnesses with precisely the same mean, twisted grin he had when he'd mock me as a child. Next sentence out of his mouth? "What are your plans for Saturday? I need to go to Costco." I'm sometimes mistaken for his wife! I could die of embarrassment.

Of course, he loves it that people think someone 30 years younger is still hanging out with him. I work a full-time job and hope to for at least another 5 years. I would choose to euthanize myself if not for my rescued kitty. And working allows me to donate monthly to ASPCA, PETA, et al.

If the animals didn't need me, I'd bounce. Tout de suite. But "Just For Today," I'm still here. But I'm detaching BIG TIME. LET HIM take the bus because he's too proud to get on the senior shuttle. STOP WORRYING "what if he falls??"

I'm such a pathetic people-pleasing enabler!! WTF about MY life?! He and his lovely bride abused me my entire life in one way or another. My mother called me a dirty rotten whelp. She never wanted children but "couldn't" use birth control.

Oh, poor little thing! Bedded a married man and got preggers. Boo hoo, the world's greatest victim. Well, I've had about all I can take of "turning the other cheek" and thinking "well in the end, it's about MY karma; not them."

A kindred spirit at work said "this is BS! If anyone makes it to 80 in halfway decent shape, there needs to be a BIG party. Knock yourself out. Invite all your friends. Get a DJ and a great caterer. Party till you puke.

Because tomorrow, we're putting you in your canoe and pushing you out into the lake before things head south. We all wish you the best - it's been swell." I couldn't agree more.

I too saw that 116 YO Italian lady and wondered how many people she had ground into dust in the last 25 some odd years of her life. THIS IS NOT NATURAL, people! THIS is the zombie apocalypse. It's here. Now. It's "the Greatest Generation."

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The Greatest Entitled Generation
by: Anonymous

Okay Okay. I know that some of them suffered in World War II and also in the Great Depression before that horrible war.

In fact, many of them lost their lives for their country whether they chose to do so or not.

Perhaps they were the lucky ones. Would they have wanted to live out their days to the age of ninety or one hundred in diapers, being fed and changed by an underpaid caregiver in some ultra expensive nursing home, or abused in an ill-managed one?

There is definitely something amiss when a society like ours puts so much value on keeping people alive for the sake of trying to play God and profit in the process through the "health care industrial complex," as I like to call it.

I think that the analogy of putting someone out on a canoe after they've turned eighty is just about perfect. The native Americans probably did something similar rather than let their loved ones degenerate with dementia. Only in America have people come to believe that they're entitled to live for as long as possible even in the worst conditions.

Whatever happened to the biblical notion that life was allotted three score and ten?

Now it's been changed to at least 90, with extreme dotage and poor health, and lots of money to pay the hospitals and nursing facilities.

People who lived to be 90 or 100 were once rare exceptions and usually only made it because of genetics or pure luck, like my great grandmother who was 98 and didn't suffer for years and years with Alzheimer's.

I can't say the same for her daughter, who is 89 and has been rotting away for about ten years with plenty of money to pay the nursing home she vegetates in.

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Spot ON!
by: Anonymous

This will not likely be posted on this site.... but your analysis is so spot on....could not agree more.

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