PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz 😀 (Thanks, Ted)
WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD
It had been a difficult decision to put his Mother in an assisted-care facility. She valued her freedom and independence so much. She couldn’t take care of herself any longer, and she couldn’t be trusted to try. He still remembered the scream of the smoke detector when he came to visit, and found her cooking hamburger.
She still loved the outdoors, and every evening they helped her down to the lake-shore. She enjoyed watching the sunset, the wheeling and cries of the gulls, and the thrum and ribbit of the frogs. She was 92 – they wouldn’t enjoy this much longer.
***
Go to Rochelle’s Addicted to Purple site and use her Wednesday photo as a prompt to write a complete 100 word story.
Archon's Den 
Very well written! The sense of realism in the way life plays out for us is captured completely. Loved it!
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It was written from my reality. I’m glad that shows through. 🙂
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It is a difficult time, for sure. And they must absolutely take advantage of what time is left.
Lovely, bittersweet tale, Archon.
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It’s easy, but hard, to write from personal memory. This is all autobiographical, about me and my mother. Granonine reminded me of it after last week’s FF, and this prompt seemed to fit. She was 100 miles away. We did what we could, and visited so often that the staff thought I still lived in town.
Some families contain assholes. I saw your comment about not knowing, on another post. Mom died on a Thursday. The funeral was on the next Monday. On Wednesday, my brother finally phoned to say that Dad wasn’t feeling well. 😯
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I know what you mean. I was sure it was autobiographical – I could feel the love…
And that is fabulous that you were able to visit so often.
Yes, assholes are all around us.
Ah gee…. 😦
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Beautifully written. Clever to have the smoke alarm screaming, adds great power to the tale.
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This Fiction is fact, although it was my Father who found my Mom – barely – in a kitchen full of smoke. At 74, my son is keeping an eye on me….and his Mom. 🙂
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It was well written and touching!!
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It’s touching many hearts. Thanx for stopping by and making yours one of them. 🙂
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Most welcome!! 🙂
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These tough choices eventually challenge everyone. The wife’s cousin and her husband, well-off, chose to move to a care development having three levels of care. Good thing too. He developed macular degeneration and joint problems. We are sticking it out in our own house and that’s working out well so far. Fortunately we have kids who live just down the street. And, we still each have most of out marbles; what one forgets the other remembers. So far. Years ago I considered buying continuing care insurance but decided that I could do better saving and investing on my own. The maxim: spend less than what comes in. Glad I did because the market has been good to us through the Obama years.
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Nice to know that you came out well. We did better than I feared we might, simply by underspending, and saving a bit here and there.
The wife and I play that tag-team memory game too. What one of us remembers, triggers the other to finish.
“What was the name of that actor in that emergency response cop show, in the 70s?
Bob?? Robert Something??
Oh yeah, Robert Uhrig, in SWAT!” 😆
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Nice to enjoy it while they can, tinged with sadness of the inevitable to come.
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That was indeed, what it was like. Thanx for the visit and comment. 🙂
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