i saw my dad as...

[amelia]

old for the first time today. he's always had a real energy about him....a love for life. today, he looked old and defeated. i have to start spending more time with him.

when did you realize your parents were getting older? or have you realized that yet?

i don't know..i'm rambling..it just made my heart ache a little

 

[riff]

My dad got old the day my brother was in that car-train accident 17 years ago.

He was never the same. It broke his heart. Broke all of our hearts, but not quite the way it broke his.

 

[Svedish_Chef]

My dad is ancient, and doesnt look it, or even the other way around

He's 46 but there are days he can look 106, and yet most women think he's about 30...

 

[Sillyman]

I don't know. My parents are still so young yet, since I'm so young and they were so young when they had me. But relationships have changed certainly, and I have seen my parents at their weakest and most helpless. It's not a comforting sight.

 

[Liontamr]

I see both my mom and dad as "old" now, but I've grown with them.. I guess I've never really given it a second thought about how they are older as compared to even 6 years ago when I lived with them.

 

[JazzManJim]

It was the afternoon about four years ago I had to go to where I worked beause my Dad had driven there because he was having trouble breathing.

Then I called the ambulance and followed it to the hospital and sat there all night while he was in the ICU with an enlarged heart that almost killed him.

It was the first time I ever saw my Dad as anything but an invulnerable superhero. He's later proven that he's far from done yet as, even though he still has the heart condition and diabetes, he goes like a house afire. He gets more tired than usual, but he doesn't stop. It's just the way he's wired. He knows his limitations and he never crosses them. He is, without a single solitary doubt, the greatest man I've ever known in my life and if I become even half the Dad he is, I'll count my life a success.

 

[Dillinger]

I've had glimpses of how old they're getting over the years... but mostly they've seemed in pretty good health and active and "alive"...

Today was, like you, the first time I saw my dad as really old...

I visited him in the hospital today - he had an operation this week (it was successful and there should be a full recovery - however it was a serious operation)... In the hospital - weak and recovering - with pain killers... he truly looked old. It was sad... and yet, he still had his sense of humor.

He's a good man.

 

[Dillinger]

My dad is ancient, and doesnt look it, or even the other way around

He's 46 but there are days he can look 106, and yet most women think he's about 30...

You're treading on thin ice here, dude...

46 and old do not belong in the same thought.

*grin*

 

[Aphrodisiac]

when did you realize your parents were getting older? or have you realized that yet?

My mom is a wonderful beautiful strong woman ... and while she is in her late 50's , I still do not see her as old.

Some how with every birthday I have , I feel older but I don't see her getting older.

She is all I have and I am in denial ... when it comes to that ... I don't see her as old.

 

[Svedish_Chef]

You're treading on thin ice here, dude...

46 and old do not belong in the same thought.

*grin*

Dill, I knew youd bite straight on it too!

PS Dad after being married 22 years, has now got himself a girlfriend... I say theres hope for you yet!

 

[Elizabeth]

I dunno. They never really seem old to me. Dad is 55 and mom is 53. I think when my dad finally got some grey in his hair (this has just been in the last few years) did he seem "older" to me.

 

[Silverluna]

Dad's gonna be about 59ish.....he has a pony tail....dyes his hair....But he's older than he looks....(looks about 45)

He's got post polio syndrome.....not a good thing....
That and he still drinks and smokes....*wince*

 

[SleepingWarrior]

My dad is going on 49 and I still haven't seen him as 'old'. Sure the gray hairs and pot belly are starting to come but he could still whip the shit out of me if it came to that. The day when I think I could actually best him in a fight or other test of strength is when I'll probaly see him as old.

 

[SpaceToast]

Some of us have lost our fathers. Not to bring anyone down, but I just hope everyone at least called his or her father today, in order to bring him a happy Father's Day (mind you, I didn't say "wish" -- and yes, our non-American friends are excused... partially). Okay, and there are people who have "fathers" only in a technical sense; they're excused too. But as for everyone who's dad was as cool as mine, I hope you did.

Okay, almost as cool. Nobody's dad was as cool as mine ;-) Ach, I ramble on-

-M@

 

[LadyDarkFire]

I realized my father was old in January of my Senior year of High School. Why I say realized that he was old, instead of getting old, is because he had gotten there a while before that, and had never really stopped being who he was, even though I thought he had. I love my dad, but now I realize he's not perfect, nor will he ever be. The hard part was realizing that no matter how much I wished, and hoped, and dreamed, I could never change him. I never saw my father as a physical super hero, he had polio and measels when he was younger, and has a bad back and neck from so many hours at the computer, but I always saw him as this quiet strength. I guess I learned that the strength had a weakness.

 

[OpposingBalance]

I first saw my father as old a couple of years ago, but it wasn't due to his age. It was when he was diagnosed with liver cancer.
A few months later, they discovered lung cancer as well.
He was never a smoker, and drank rarely.
He’s been fighting it, but recently his condition has deteriorated dramatically.
When first discovered, the doctors gave him a year or so.
After that year had passed, they gave him three to six months.
Now they say he won't live past the summer.
This time, I think they may be right.

 

[Kasha]

As far as my biological sperm donar of a father, I used to see him as someone I wanted to love me. I never have thought of him being old. I never wanted to see him for what he was while I was a child trying to gain his attention and affection. Now as an adult I see him for what he is... A selfish, uncaring, worthless piece of shit. I am glad I see that now, that I accept it and don't strive for the imaginary love I thought he just had to have for me.

My grandpa is the one I think of as my "father". He raised me and yes, I called him the minute I got up this morning. I am so close to him and thank God (or whatever it is out there) everyday that I have this amazing man in my life. He and my grandma raised me since I was a baby almost. They were what people would consider old back then.. 26 years ago. My grandpa retired a few years after I had come to live with them.

I had never known him as a young man but I never thought of him as old. I have always thought he and my grandma were "special" people, ones who would never get sick, never get old, never leave me.

I have come to find out that isn't true over the past 4 years. I have started to see them age..both are 78 and 79 now. When I went home 2 years ago to visit, my grandma looked older and more frail than I thought was possible. She had undergone heart surgery the year before and it really has taken it's toll on her.

My grandpa up to that point was still doing great. He was very active, still driving..shopping, gardening. He even had prostate cancer and he looked really good. So, I have kept that image of him in my mind for the last two years.

But two weeks ago he told me that his cancer has progressed so much that it's in his bones. He has always tried to "sugar coat" his illness when he talks with me because he doesn't want to upset me. But he has finally started to come clean with what's really going on with him.

I will be flying home as soon as I get a ticket I can afford. I will be going home to take care of him and my grandma the way they have always taken care of me.

*sorry about the long post but this is really all that is on my mind and I suppose I just needed to get it out.

 

[Sillyman]

I've been ten years old and saw a man hooked up to an ICU. No real reason for it either, just a body that refuses to be healthy.

 

[Svedish_Chef]

*sorry about the long post but this is really all that is on my mind and I suppose I just needed to get it out.

Thankyou for it.

 

[Darowyn]

My Dad was 75 when he died, but he never got old. He never even grew up. He was sailing his model yacht the morning of the day he died.
So I see no reason why I should ever let the years get to me either.

 

[Rhys]

dead.


all dead. all gone

I miss him

 

[APhil]

I don't think my dad's old, even though he's 54.

His sense of humor and style of life is what keeps him young, I think.

Even though bits and pieces of him don't want to work right, or work at all, he's still young.

Fairy tales can come true
It can happen to you
If you're young at heart

For it's hard you will find
To be narrow of mind
If you're young at heart

You can go to extremes
With impossible schemes
You can laugh when your dreams
Fall apart at the seams

And life gets more exciting
with each passing day
And love is either in your heart
Or on it's way

Don't you know that it's worth
Every treasure on earth
To be young at heart

For as rich as you are
It's much better by far
To be young at heart

And if you should survive to 105
Look at all you'll derive
Out of being alive

And here is the best part
You've had a head start
If you are among the very
Young at heart

And if you should survive to 105
Think of all you'll derive
Out of being alive

And here is the best part
You've had a head start
If you are among the very
Young at heart...

 

[SadnonMage]

RE: old

My parents never seemed that old to me until a couple of years ago when my Stepfather was diagnosed with leukemia, two years or so of Chemo and drugs and bi-weekly transfusions now, they both seem old.
About Halloween time last year his body stopped producing blood altogether, so he gets transfused just to stay alive.
Mystery, they don't know why, just that it doesn't makeblood anymore.

Last time I saw him was Easter, or shortly after and he just looks old and beaten now, but he keeps fighting.

SM

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

I literaly can't say my parent's are old.....

how can you look at a 44 year old full of energry doing everything and say they are old.....

especily when you have freinds that are just 2-3 years younger then them?

 

[Bob Peale]

My dad was old when I was born. As it is, he is as old as many of my friend's grandfathers