After my son talked me into living in a care home, I wrote him every day to tell him how much I missed him. He never answered any of them, and I didn’t find out why until a stranger told me and came to take me home....CONTINUE READING
I was told I had osteoporosis when I turned 81, which made it hard for me to get around without help. My son Tyler and his wife Macy also found it hard to take care of me because of my condition. So they chose to move me to a nursing home. Tyler told me, ‘We can’t take care of you all day, Mom.
There is work to be done. We don’t look after people.’ I didn’t know why he felt that way about me all of a sudden since I always tried to stay out of their way so I wouldn’t mess up their daily lives. I would stay in my room and use my chair to help me get to another part of the house when I had to. ‘I promise I won’t get in your way. Please don’t put me in an old age home,’ I begged. ‘Your father built me this house, and I’d love to stay here for the rest of my life.
Tyler brushed me off and said that the house my late husband James had built was too big for me. ‘Come on, Mom,’ he told her. ‘Let Macy and me take care of the house. We could have a gym and different rooms with all this room.
There’s a lot of space to make changes.’ At this point, I realized that he had put me in a nursing home not because he wanted to make sure I got good care but because he wanted my house. When I found out that Tyler had turned out to be a selfish adult, I was very upset and tried not to cry. ‘Where did I make a mistake?’ When I got to my room that night, I asked myself. I thought I had taught him to be polite, but it turns out I was wrong. I never thought my son would lie to me.
Tyler and Macy took me to a nearby nursing home without giving me much of a choice. They said the workers there would take care of me all the time. ‘Don’t worry, Mom. We’ll visit as much as we can,’ Tyler told me. Hearing this, I understood that maybe it wasn’t so bad to move into a care home since they were going to visit me anyway. I didn’t know it yet, but Tyler was lying to get me off his back.
The days at the nursing home seemed to last forever. Even though the nurses and other patients were nice to talk to, I still wanted to be with my family and not in a place full of strangers. Since I didn’t have a phone or computer, I had to write Tyler a letter every day to ask him to come visit me or let me know how they were doing. I never heard back or had anyone come see me.
After living in a care home for two years, I gave up hope that anyone would come to see me. I would ask every night, ‘Please take me home,’ but after two years, I tried to tell myself not to get my hopes up. One day, though, my nurse told me that a guy in his 40s was looking for me at the front desk. Did my son come to visit at last? I quickly grabbed my walker and made my way to the front. I thought it was Tyler when I got there, but to my surprise, it was another man I hadn’t seen in a long time.
He said, ‘Mom,’ and gave me a big hug. Ron! Ron is a young man; I spoke to him. ‘Hello, Mom, how are things with you? I’m sorry I didn’t come see you sooner,’ he said. ‘I just got back from Europe, and I went straight to your house. My place, Tyler and Macy were there, right?’ I told them they put me in this nursing home a few years ago, and I haven’t seen them since. Ron gave me a sad look and told me to sit down. We sat down on the couch next to each other, and he started telling me what had happened in the two years that I had been in the nursing home.
‘I’m sorry, Mom, but I have to tell you this,’ he began to say. ‘I thought you already knew. Tyler and Macy died last year in a house fire. I didn’t know until I went to your house and saw that it was empty. I chose to look in the mailbox to find out where you were, and when I did, I saw all of your unread letters,’ he said. Ron told me something that I couldn’t believe.
Even though I was angry at my son for what he did to me, it broke my heart to hear that he had died. I cried all day because I missed him and my daughter-in-law Macy. Ron never left my side while I was crying. He tried to make me feel better and stayed with me until I was ready to talk again.
I once took Ron in as a foster child. He has known Tyler since they were kids, and they were always together. Ron lived in poverty and was raised by his grandma after his parents died. Tyler, on the other hand, had everything he could want. I took care of him like he was my own son. I fed him, dressed him, and let him live with us until he went to college in Europe. Ron didn’t come back to the U.S after getting a well-paying job in Europe, and we finally lost touch. I didn’t think I’d ever see him again, but then I saw him at the nursing home, Mom,’ he said.
When I finally stopped being so upset, I don’t think you belong in a care home like this. Will you let me take you home, please?’ he said. ‘I would love to take care of you.’ I just couldn’t help but cry again.
My own son kicked me out of my house, and there was a man standing in front of me who wanted to take me in, even though I wasn’t related to him by blood. ‘Really? Would you do that for me?’ ‘Yes, Mom, of course. That’s not even a question. You brought me up to be the person I am now,’ Ron hugged me and said. ‘Without you, I’m nothing.
That night, Ron helped Jude pack up her things and brought her to the house he had just bought. Jude found out he had a big family there, and they welcomed him with open arms.
She was happy in her last years because she was with people who loved and cared for her. That’s it for today, friends.
