Adjusting

For as long as I can remember my dad was strong and could do anything. I always felt that nothing would ever happen to him, and he would live forever. Now that he was home, it was like he had regressed to a child. This is a perception that children rarely see of their parents.


He needed help with all the basics like changing and eating etc.. I am not so used to seeing him so vulnerable. For safety reasons, my mom bought baby monitors to put in the family room just in case he needed us in the middle of the night.

For the first few weeks we always had to make sure someone was home with him because it was too risky leaving him by himself. However, one day we made an exception. My mom and I had to drop off the car at the mechanic. My brother was at work so he wasn’t available to stay home. We told my dad that we would be back in fifteen minutes since the mechanic was located nearby. My mom specifically told him not to get out of the chair and to wait until we got home.

Fifteen minutes later we were back home. We walked into the house and my dog greeted us with his usual hyper self. I can’t remember who walked into the room first, but I remember seeing my dad on the floor in front of the laundry room. I could feel the anxiety immediately. My mom and I quickly picked him up and off of the floor. My mom scolded my dad. I couldn’t help but wonder if this is how it would be forever. Thankfully that was his last fall. However, he scared himself enough that he would walk around with a helmet wherever he would go. Half the time he would not even buckle it on so I would not even see the point of him wearing it. My mom would tell me that he would use it for confidence so I shouldn’t make fun of him. I figured I wouldn’t say anything because I wasn’t the one going out in public with him.