Donald had to move in with his son Peter after his home was destroyed in a fire. However, he began to feel that he was becoming a burden on his son, especially since they were staying out late every night. This led the older man to consider moving to a nursing home. But Peter had a heartwarming surprise planned.
“I’m telling you, Donald. Your son is going to reach his limit soon and ask you to leave. It’s better to be proactive and find somewhere else before that happens and damages your relationship,” Mary said once again. They’d been discussing it ever since they sat down to have tea on Peter’s porch.
Donald Harper’s house had been lost to a fire two months earlier while he was at the supermarket, and he suffered a heart attack upon returning to find the devastation. After being rushed to the hospital, Peter and his wife insisted that he move in with them as soon as he recovered. However, Peter and his wife were in their 30s, raising three young children, and now had an older man to care for in their home.
Donald had been anxious about being a burden for a while, but Peter and his wife reassured him that they cherished having him there, and the grandchildren loved listening to his stories. Yet, Peter’s neighbor Mary, who was Donald’s age, had been planting doubts in his mind.
“You think Peter and his wife are too polite to tell me to move?” Donald wondered, his right hand holding the teacup to his lips and sipping slowly.
Mary did the same while nodding her head vehemently. “Of course! It happened to me, and I was only with my daughter for three weeks. She blamed me for everything that went wrong. She said that I was too loud in the mornings and causing her electric bill to go up. My house was only getting fumigated, but I swear, I wanted to just return home,” she continued. “We haven’t talked to each other in a while because of that.”
Donald hummed and nodded, thinking that Mary might be right. Obviously, his son was way more polite because they didn’t have one bad word to say about Donald at all.
He also noticed that Peter and his wife, Sandra, were coming home later and later each day. He was happy to watch the kids for them, but maybe, he thought, they were unhappy to see him in their house. He decided it might be time to move.
The older man pulled his son aside that night when he got home and suggested moving him to a nursing home, but Peter said they should revisit that conversation later. “Dad now is not the time for that. We’ll talk about it later.”
Several months went by, and Donald was worried. Peter and his wife looked exhausted every time they got home, although they always smiled for him. He had not talked about the nursing home subject again, but it was time to try once more. He had enough savings to pay for a decent assisted-living residence, so it would not be awful.
He had even gone online to search for places, and there was one nearby in their neighborhood in Chesapeake, Virginia, which was only a few minutes away from Peter’s house. He had printed the information and was ready to show it to Peter.
“Ok, Dad. Let’s go and visit it tomorrow,” Peter agreed that night, and Donald was relieved. Mary had been harping again about his extended stay, and Donald was worried that it would ruin his bond with his son and the family.
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