Cancer Survivor, writing about Health and Fitness as you age

This year, my children lost both of their grandfathers. It has been a very sad year for us so far, so on Father's Day this year I wanted to share a little about our fathers. They both went too suddenly. We can hardly believe they are gone. Ich liebe dich Papa. I love you Daddy. Below : a few words, each with a story, to remind us. Below : a few pictures, each with a story,  to remind us. Turning Torso, Sweden The last mango And finally, I learnt this ditty in primary school and would sing for my father. It makes me cry. Oh my Papa* Oh, my Papa, to me he was so wonderful, Oh, my Papa, to me he was so good. No one could be so gentle and so lovable, Oh, my Papa, he always understood. Gone are the days when he could take me on his knee And with a smile he'd change my tears to laughter. Oh, my Papa, so funny, so adorable, Always the clown so funny in his way. Oh, my Papa, to me he was so wonderfu...

Short Post. Sad to say, life with the aging P is no more. He fought very hard to stay with us. Aging parent. October 2015, Austin, Texas. The last mango I shared with him. May 2016, San Fernando, Trinidad. He was a wonderful father and an example to me. He lives on in his grandchildren. So much more to say, but this will do for now. Follow me on Twitter @AustinTrini and Instagram @AustinTrini . **This site uses cookies **

My dad is staying with me for the next few months and in the few weeks that he has been at home, I've noticed a few things about him that heralds the aging parent. We don't have a spare bedroom, so we've invested in a bed and a privacy screen and installed him in the "game room" space outside my sons' bedrooms. I thought I'd recount some of our conversations. "You know Daddy, ah tink we should get ah little privacy screen to put up by yuh bed. Yuh know, so anybody comin' up de steps doh see you on your bed, an' give you a little privacy." "Nah, what ah go do wit dat? Ah doh need no privacy screen. Why was'e yuh money? If ah want someting like dat, ah go put ah box or someting or tie ah piece ah sheet across if ah want some privacy." It went on like this for a few days and I ignored him and got a 4-panel folding privacy screen. The evening it was delivered and I set it up, my dad said this: "Yuh know, de sc...

When my mother died from breast cancer , I spent a long time going over the same questions in my mind. How could this have happened? I could have helped, why didn't I? Why didn't I ask for details about her health, about tests she'd had or should have had?  Why didn't I probe more? Why didn't I take better care of her? In the end, I concluded that I didn't ask those questions because I was the child of my mom, she was the parent and I expected my parents to take care of themselves. I didn't think I had to take care of them. So, at what point does a child assume the responsibility for taking care of their parent? What is that trigger or signal that says, "It's time to be in charge of mom or dad". Unfortunately it seems to me that  there is no real "time" (bar an event in which the parent is incapacitated), but is more of a sliding scale. The slider starts out with the child not being responsible and then moves over to greater and...