My dad's old now, but someone forgot to tell him that. He's often shocked that he can't work as hard as he did when he was in his twenties. Like it's a surprise that he can't shovel three cubic meters of gravel in a morning without getting worn out.
It surprises me too sometimes when I find I can't call on him to cut down our big fig tree or help us paint the house. He did offer to help with the tree but the thought of him up a ladder with his dodgy knees and a chain saw in hand was a little scary.
I remind myself that he's not the young man he once was, at least not in body. He'll always be that man in spirit though and that's the most important thing. It's hard to watch him struggle up the stairs or take five minutes to get out of the car. But then he'll laugh his guts out when I get a fright because his compressor has suddenly started up behind me in his shed and I realise that nothing has changed over the years ... not really.
It surprises me too sometimes when I find I can't call on him to cut down our big fig tree or help us paint the house. He did offer to help with the tree but the thought of him up a ladder with his dodgy knees and a chain saw in hand was a little scary.
I remind myself that he's not the young man he once was, at least not in body. He'll always be that man in spirit though and that's the most important thing. It's hard to watch him struggle up the stairs or take five minutes to get out of the car. But then he'll laugh his guts out when I get a fright because his compressor has suddenly started up behind me in his shed and I realise that nothing has changed over the years ... not really.