Missing My Parents - And Haven't Even Left Yet

[dret]

I’ve been visiting my parents for the holidays, but have to head back out of town on Sunday and back to work in the city where I live, a few hours away. I’m still single and no kids in my 30’s, really unhappy in my job and having some bad health problems recently after a scary auto accident. Coming home to relax for a couple weeks has been a great blessing and take my mind off things. I’ve not even left yet, and I am going to miss them terribly.

Now that my parents just hit 70, I think about them dying and it makes me rather sad. I also think I’ve disappointed them by not being as successful professionally or personally as they probably hoped. They’ve never said that, but still I feel like I ought to be less of a worry and more of a joy. No wife, no grandkids, health problems, job I can’t stand, etc.

Anyone else have a thought on how to look at things? Maybe I’m just too close to my parents? I do pray and try to just take things as they come, but maybe this is just a combo of post-holiday blues, plus worries about the economy and my health? I don’t know.

 

[kage_ar]

What about looking for a job that is closer to your parents? Heck, it is a modern American idea that as soon as we turn 20 we are supposed to distance ourselves from our parents. In other cultures, it is very normal for extended families to keep living as a family.

Prayers for you.

 

[dret]

Thanks for your prayers! Please be assured I’ll remember you and other readers/posters on this thread in my own.

Not a bad idea, moving, but there aren’t a lot of job opps here. Fortunately, the city where I live is where all my siblings also live, so I do have family nearby. But my parents live in the country several hours away and we can’t convince them to move.

 

[dret]

I guess there’s just something very safe and reassuring, for me, about home, that I don’t find in my personal or professional life. And of course as you get older and your parents get older, you realise you’re not always going to have that security. We don’t HAVE earthly security. Anyone else had a thought about this sort of thing, the difficulty of letting go of your parents BEFORE they die?