By David Gillaspie
With an old wrestler’s sense of body leverage and
balance, I helped Grandpa Ken out of bed. He took
a few steps. The next day, he took a few more,
until he was taking laps around the center staircase,
moving from hardwood floors, to carpet, to brick.
He wasn’t wearing his Nikes, but he should have been.
It’s never a fair fight, but as long as you move with
it, you get a shot in now and then.
David Gillaspie is a writer living in
Tigard, Oregon. He cares for his father in law with
Parkinson’s. David’s family, wife and two sons,
combined households with his mother in law when the stress
of caring for her husband, began to wear on her.
Grandpa Ken moved back home when his health took a sharp
turn for the worse.
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