My Parents
My parents practice a cool strategy sometimes when my mom’s feet freeze from Parkinson’s disease. The first time I saw it, I doubted it would work. My dad stands in front of mom, holds her hands, and then proceeds to walk backward. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all, sometimes it works slowly, and sometimes it works like magic.
You should have seen them.
As I watched my parents walking this way on Mother’s Day, one moving forward and one moving backward, for a moment I saw them as they were and then, like a flash, I saw them how they must have been when they were young. My aunt once told me, “You should have seen them.” They were so in love, totally head over heels when they were newly married. My mom, beautiful with her bright blonde hair and cute outfits, and my dad slim and trim and handsome with his dark hair. The love they started with has gotten them through a lot and maybe their toughest challenge yet – Parkinson’s disease.
It is affecting them both but you wouldn’t know it during this walking magic moment, smiles, hands held, a comfortableness from years of being together. A moment of peace, because those who know Parkinson’s know that one afternoon can be good, and the next can be just awful.
Faster than you think
If you are reading this and your parents are living, don’t wait to go see them. Don’t put it off for another weekend. Don’t put everything else first and say you’re too busy. We all know how time works. You never get it back, and it always goes faster than you think it will.
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