Based on the title I wasn't sure I wanted to read this thread, but I'm glad I did, and I'm proud to know you guys. So much of what seems wrong in our society today is the lack of family unity and respect. I'm so glad to see so many of you still hold that notion as important.

Like so many of you, we're at that stage as well. My mother is 90, the MIL 87, we lost the FIL just over a year ago. Both these women are fiercely independent (must have been a genetic source for certain behaviors in our household ) and resist efforts at help, but they've come to accept that the clock is winding down for each of them. Mine still has a sharp mind, it's just her body giving out to cancer, strokes, and partial blindness. The MIL's body is holding up well even after the heart attack last summer, but she's in the early stages of Alzhiemer's, so each visit is an adventure of sorts. But they are ours, we are theirs, and we owe them all the love and attention we can share.