No, I am not getting younger like Benjamin Button.

I am definitely getting older, but the child in me still returns when I am around my parents.

Please tell me that I’m not alone…

I am blessed: I have two parents who love me. I was taught about the one true God who loves me and Jesus saved me at twelve.

That was many years ago, and the 21 years I spent in their home are far outnumbered by the years that have followed.

Still… I revert to my inner child.

The memories flood in.  Our big family.  Lots of laughter. Playing outside until dark and coming home to an awesome supper around the dinner table followed by a pile of dishes that had to be hand washed and dried.

I have reached the role-reversal stage of sharing the responsibility for their care, yet my heart still sees them much younger. Those memories of childhood flash through my mind as though it were yesterday.

It was a simple upbringing.  Just an average family, not wealthy, no exciting adventures or monumental accomplishments.  Just a simple life where Dad worked to provide for his family and Mom was a constant source of stability and comfort.  (And good food!)

This simple life helped shape me into the person I am today.

And I am grateful.

Mom was the country girl who married a city boy and started a family.  They worked hard and taught their children to love one another, be respectful and moral.  We didn’t have much, yet we had everything.  We had two parents that loved us and provided for all of our needs.

And now, as my sweet mother is recovering from a stroke, I watch and I wait.  And remember.

The songs.

Music always, always speaks to my heart, and sitting here in the hospital, my mind goes back to a simple song of inspiration and hope that I have been singing since I was a little girl:

“But I am like a flourishing olive tree
in the house of God;
I trust in God’s faithful love forever and ever.

I will praise you forever for what you have done.
In the presence of your faithful people,
I will put my hope in your name, for it is good.”  Psalm 52

I knew that this day would come when I would care for aging parents, but there was really no way to prepare for it–other than to fill my mind with the truth from God’s word–and although tears come to my eyes, these truths fill my heart with peace and with hope.

“Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.  For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:16-18