My Entire Family is Aging, And I’m Not Ready For This Part to End
When they ask me to swim with them, I swim
A week ago I returned from a family vacation at the beach. Anyone who has taken a family on any trip anywhere knows it’s more of a journey than a vacation. Most times you’re taking your emotional baggage with you along with your physical baggage.
We have been to this beach before. We used to go further south, but traveling with kids is hard no matter how far you go. Shaving off 4 hours of travel time seemed like a wise choice, so we’ve been going to the Virginia shore for a few years now.
We’ve rented houses and condos over the years, and we were always sure to make arrangements for our aging parents. My father-in-law is a polio survivor but the toll it took on him haunts him to this day. And my mother has always had joint problems and has had both of her feet completely reconstructed. Sadly, it feels more like the surgeries have just relocated her problems and not eliminated them, so she’s left with different mobility issues.
Both my mom and father-in-law struggled the last time we had them all at the beach. The last time we did this trip, my mom barely made it to the actual beach, and my father-in-law didn’t venture down to the ocean.
