Getting old is inevitable. The loss of memory, motor skills, and other functions sets in slowly. Children watch their parents lose these functions with varying degrees of grace, arrogance, and impatience. Parents, in their younger days, watch their children learn to walk, to run, to read, to color, to draw, to sing, and do many other fun activities. From the moment children are born, the parents are there to watch over them until they are ready to leave the nest.
One mother wrote her daughter a letter about what to do when she got older and began to lose the important motor functions that allow her to function on her own. This letter pleads the daughter to remember how the mother helped her when she was little. Whether it was by reading the same book night after night so that she would fall asleep or offering a hand to help learn to walk, the mother was there for her through her trials. She pleads her daughter to remember these times when she begins to lose those motor skills.
“And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as quickly as before,” one paragraph of the letter begins, “give me your hand the same way that I offered mine to you when you first walked”. She likens the process to growing up for the first time, and learning all the skills. The heartwarming letter is simply reminding her daughter that she has already done all of this for her, and shouldn’t the daughter return the favor?
Original Copy:
My dear girl,
The day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago” … Just listen, please. Try to remember the times when you were little and I would read the same story night after night until you would fall asleep.
When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be mad and don’t embarrass me. Remember when I had to run after you making excuses and trying to get you to take a shower when you were just a girl?
When you see how ignorant I am when it comes to new technology, give me the time to learn and don’t look at me that way…remember, honey, I patiently taught you how to do many things like eating appropriately, getting dressed, combing your hair and dealing with life’s issues every day…the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through.
If I occasionally lose track of what we’re talking about, give me the time to remember, and if I can’t don’t be nervous, impatient or arrogant. Just know in your heart that the most important thing for me is to be with you.
And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as quickly as before, give me your hand the same way that I offered mine to you when you first walked. When those days come, don’t feel sad…just be with me, and understand me while I get to the end of my life with love. I’ll cherish and thank you for the gift of time and joy we shared. With a big smile and the huge love I’ve always had for you, I just want to say, I love you…my darling daughter.
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