Preparing for Life’s Final Transition

Douglas Brown

My wife, Tricia, and I have been in an interesting and important phase of our lives for the last few years—caring for aging parents. In 2020 Tricia’s parents, Larry and Nancy, moved in with us, and we became their primary-care providers. Just over five short months after they moved in, Nancy unexpectedly passed away. Larry, who struggled with Parkinson-like symptoms, stayed with us through the next year, but eventually his health and care needs reached a point where we needed to transition him to a care center. Larry entered glory in October 2021. My parents are on a similar path. My dad has Parkinson’s, and my mom has Alzheimer’s. Though they lived on their own for the last few years with lots of assistance from family, friends, and caregivers, they have recently had to move into a care center for round-the-clock care.

On one hand, this end-of-life care is fairly straightforward: elderly parents need loving care, and we were glad to honor God and honor our parents by helping. On the other hand, this process is very complicated and involves way more than what we initially understood. Our experience of caring for our parents has been filled with paradoxes. Caring for parents involves a lot of hard, tiring work, but is it also incredibly rewarding. At times, it is full of sorrow and tears, but it also has given us irreplaceable memories of joy and love. Providing long-term care can be stressful and confusing, but it has taught us and our children invaluable lessons about sacrifice and selfless love.