Outliving your usefullness

I told my dad that you have to be very extra careful this year because your age is in the line of nine...you have to surpass this year for a new cycle of 0-9 will have to start...he just looked at me in a gaze that i could only described as something like the star struck gaze of puppy who could not understand a thing or two of what I was talking about...I told him to be very extra careful at the bathroom because older people with fragile bones could not bear havings falls of any sort to their bodies...I also told my dad that you need to be accompanied by somebody anywhere you want to go...but he's so stubborn and down right uncooperative at times...I guess he doesn't want to feel that he has outlive his usefulness...because since he has retired from work he always seems to be looking for things to do...places to go...and all other things to attend to...I told him that retirement means you don't have to do a single thing...you are retired...years before he insist to drive a vehicle even when his eyes are already failing him...I believe that He is going into one of the most difficult transitions in life that we all will experience when you go into retirement... from being the bread winner of the family...to somebody who waits for dole outs from his family ...from being the solid post or wall that everyone can lean on...to somebody who needs to grab your arms to steady his posture and keep his balance...from being the giver of material things or money to your family...to somebody who feels that his sons or daughters owe them money for they were the one's who brought them into this world, clothe and feed them, paid for their education, etc...and for children who tell them that all those things that you have done for us as parents were your responsibility and obligation to your children..and your childrem might say we don't owe you any single thing for bring us up in this world...It is truly difficult from being the giver where everyone use to depend on you...to becoming somebody waiting for your children to send you some money or things...from being the padre de pamilya...into somebody who has a frail body...who needs to take his medicines and watch what he eats...becoming a senior citizen...he is in the twilight of his years...if we are at the airport...he is someone who is in the pre-departure area...to the place or destination way beyond the sky...its really one of the opposite roles in life the we play...the cycle of life as it is for all of us becoming children...depending on our parents...to becoming parents...having our own children...to becoming grand parents depending on our children...the irony of life as our parents were once carefree as children and responsible as young adults and parents...and as they become wiser and older as grand parents and are now dependent on their children...