Got an e-mail one day from our church pianist, who doubles as a tough prosecutor with the DA’s office. Her mom had fallen some time during the night and broke her wrist. When we talked, Melanie’s mother had just come out of surgery, which negated a planned surgery for which she was scheduled this week down the street at UAMS.

When Melanie wrote to say her mother was safely out of surgery, I wrote her a response which basically said this...

I don’t consider your parents old, but you need to get ready. When the folks start to age, it introduces a whole new set of dynamics to your life. I’ve noticed that as couples establish careers before having their babies, that the average age of new parents continues to go up. What are the repercussions, other than the obvious?

One is that the gap between taking care of the little ones and then taking care of Mom and Dad is shortened considerably. So, these adults go quickly from one set of pressures to another. Both are intense and stressful, and both are very much real.

Seems to me this could be a good teaching point for churches... that we could assist people in understanding these dynamics and help in dealing with them from a redemptive standpoint. My generation, the Boomers, got married right out of college, if not before. When I became a father just before turning 24, I felt like I was an old father. Now, my son is 31 and he and his wife have yet to start their family. So he’s going to go from changing his baby’s diaper to changing mine! Well, in a manner of speaking anyway (I hope).

Being the only one available geographically, I am the principal son (of three) to see to my mother’s direct needs. Even though she is in a local nursing home, there is much responsibility in seeing that her care is administered appropriately. As I mentioned, my younger child is 31, leaving me a considerable time frame between the years I had the responsibility of taking care of his needs and then doing the same for my mom.

Just musing, but it seems that of just these kinds of things is the real stuff of life.