Why is Coming of Age an Inevitable, Process

Lessons learned, from taking care of her aging father: to care for her physical health, so she won’t become, reliant on someone else, and, burden the individual when she’s elderly too!  Translated…

With his hands on the handles of the wheelchair, the tears fell, uncontrollably, I was crying, couldn’t hide my emotions with my voice then, my father who’d been complaining about how his right foot keeps falling off the foot pedals, stopped talking, and worked really hard, moving his body onto the wheelchair straight.

In this ally, there’s the armor I wanted to take off, and too many, whys, and, more of, the answers that responded back to me, in, silence.

I pushed the wheelchair, with my father who’d had his stroke twenty years ago, paralyzed on his right side, he’d been troubled by the itching of his skin after he fell asleep.

In the cold, but finally sunny afternoon, I’d put his hat on his head, pushed him along, that path that’s not set up, for the, handicapped persons, getting through one obstacle after the next, and the next, on the course, our goal was, the dermatologist’s office only six hundred meters out; it’s just, that neither of us are strong enough in the minds, to allow the joys of the sunny afternoon, to overcome the hardship of getting there.

My father and I complained all the way, and, at the final time, when I was about to, set my father’s foot on the foot board, that task that’s been incomplete, getting in both our ways, smashed itself, against, both our, heads.

illustration from UDN.com

This time, I’d not only helped my father put his food on the board, I’d, also, injured by left foot that’s, easily, sprained.

Then, we both sat by the side of the road, started crying, nonstop, it was like screaming into, that echoing valley, so full of, force, or maybe, it was me, who didn’t want to cope, that every accident had, the gifts in the, same amount of, weightiness to them.

Before last year, my father still had the ability to take care of himself, slowly.  I’d thought that dying in your sleep is the best way to die, it’s just, that his third stroke hit unexpectedly, the signing up for the long-term care provisions, or the application to the daycare center, are like pop quizzes, and, I’d, gotten my teeth knocked out of me, even if I wasn’t, feeling, upset, and that was when it’d dawned on me, that optimistically thinking that we will age gracefully, is the most, irresponsible, thought.

Based off of the estimates of the government agency, by 2026, Taiwan will formally enter the super elderly era, and, by then, the population of elderly will get up to twenty-percent, and, it won’t be long, until, we’re all, face-to-face with the impacts of the hard-hitting, coming of age, and, are our parents, or are we, putting the emphasis on still getting, everything to ourselves?

After I’d gone through that afternoon, full of, upsets, and complaints, suddenly, there was, a window, with the light shining in, I’d, clicked open the exercise class for the aging, put down my registration information, and, sent it in, or maybe, life is, an obstacle courses that we need to get through, one stage at a time, but, the tiny blessings in our, bitter lives, are what’s worth, holding on tightly, to.  And, only in the ups, and the downs, will we understand, how big a blessing, these small things are, don’t feel bad, congratulations, you’d, come to understand the importance, of how to age your mind, against, your own, body’s, coming of age, process.

So, this is the understanding of this woman, in caring for her father, she’d felt the strains, and, she’d, come to understand, that keeping up with her own physical health is the most important thing, because if you don’t have your physical health when you’re older, then, you will, have to, rely on others to care for you, and that’s not, good!