Down the Line

I visited Gracy Auntie whilst at home this time. Until a couple of years ago, she would visit us to meet my mother but now she's confined to her compound, that too with the help of a walking stick. So my mother asked me to meet her(it seems she sent V too) with the instruction that I visit when Auntie is alone. She stays with her son's family and there are some complications in their relationship and even my mother had got mixed up in it once unnecessarily so I wasn't sure if it was a good idea but I nevertheless went around 11 in the morning, when she was supposed to be alone. But her daughter-in-law was late to work that day and I met her briefly and gladly. Once we were alone, I wasn't sure what to talk. She looked much weaker than last time and it was obvious she spent most of her time alone at home. I started by asking her about her daughter's children, who I know from childhood and who Auntie was very fond of. She said they were doing good but I had touched a sensitive spot; she said her daughter and the kids didn't care for her anymore. She went on to lament how she cared for so many of her near and dear ones when she was healthy and now that she was in bad shape, all of them behaved as if she didn't exist already. I have heard of some of her early struggles and I know how she literally raised some of her grandchildren so I didn't know what to say. It made be sad, it made me introspect and blush with guilt and I could hardly comfort her. Whatever little I managed to say only increased her anguish and tears.

I sincerely hope I do better as a daughter. I imagine all of us think that way so why do we fail? We are nice to so many people but we always end up taking our parents for granted...