Dad is Getting Old

This past week end my dad came to visit. I haven't seen him is several years and he had aged so much. He will be 85 this June. He cant hear and has so much trouble walking. He uses a cane but that still didn't keep him from falling two times while he was here.

1926

2011

 He has been traveling a lot lately. He lives in Tennessee and is many miles between his children and grandchildren, but in the past two months he has driven to Arizona and Florida twice, then Mississippi a few times and now here in Louisiana. It is a scary thought that hes on the road driving. I think this will be his last trip. He said it was just too much on him, and hes right! I guess I never thought about how he would be when he got up in age. It really is sad.  

My granddaughter got to visit with her great granddad and see that her Nana really does have a daddy. She played him a song on her Barbie guitar. Later that day I took him out to my moms grave site where he placed red roses on her grave. It was emotional for him, since it had been so long since he had been out there.

 It is hard to watch a person age . We all are aging. Time is going by so fast. My children are watching their own parents getting older. I'm sure they do not think about the time they will visit our graves and perhaps lay flowers. They may not think about what will happen when we fall, cant hear or drive. I think about it all the time. My husband and I have planed and prepared for our time. My dad has never planned .

When I was a little girl, I would look at my mothers hands and then at mine. Hers was so soft, never showing all the veins and wrinkles that mine show now.  I see in this photo the beginning and the end of things to come, the innocence of youth and the pain of getting old. As I look at my granddaughter now, I see the young girl she will grow to be. Most likely I wont be here on this earth to see her marry or be a mother, but I will cherish every minute I have on this earth with her and my daughters as I get old!