Learn patience

He was sleeping soundly upstairs when there was a knock on his door. Startled, he saw his mother, breathless, saying, "It's morning already, and you're still not up?" She had slept soundly, and when she opened her eyes and glanced at the clock, she thought it was 5:30 a.m., but it was actually only 2:00 a.m. He felt both annoyed and sorry for his mother; now in her late 70s, her eyesight was failing, her steps were slow, her hands trembled, and, sadly, her memory was declining, making her confused about time.

Last week, after several days of incessant rain, the old man slept soundly during the day and, upon waking, mistook evening for early morning. Luckily, it only lasted a few days. However, the 90-year-old neighbor has completely shifted from day to night, sleeping with a pillow during the day and staying up all night making tea, reading the newspaper, and cleaning the house. Her son is extremely worried, constantly unable to sleep well because he fears she might be moving around at night and difficult to control.

The other day, I happened to run into an old college friend. We both had to care for elderly relatives, so we easily talked and empathized with each other. My friend said her mother's physical and mental health was deteriorating month by month, and that living with her required patience. Probably due to the habits of the subsidy era when food and clothing were scarce, her mother would knock on her daughter's door every 15 minutes asking what time dinner was ready and never remembering what she wanted to eat. She even said she'd never eaten familiar dishes like cabbage before. Then, one time, she asked for rice rolls, and when her daughter bought them, she threw them away and insisted on pho instead.

Every time the neighbors came to visit, she would say that cooking and cleaning the house every day was very tiring, which initially made them look at her daughter as if she were a strange object. Later, the daughter had to go to the door and tell the neighbors that her mother was senile. As for constantly asking and calling her when she left the house, that was normal. Wherever she went, she would always tell her mother what time she would be back, but usually her mother would call her about 30 minutes before the deadline.

It was exhausting and frustrating, but she had to get used to it. She accepted it as fate, and besides, she was taking care of her mother, not a stranger. He comforted her: "Going to the temple to pray all year round is not as important as taking care of your parents at home. Parents are like living Buddhas!" She smiled sadly: "I know that, but sometimes life feels meaningless when I witness the fading years of people's lives. I have to steel myself against the uncertainties of life and cultivate patience."

Source: https://laodong.vn/van-hoa-giai-tri/hoc-su-kien-nhan-1373699.ldo