<p>Wonderful, terrible thread, so easy to identify with everyone. My father died recently, and though my mother is not in the worst shape for 80, parents were so close for so long, 60+ years, that it was a major concern of mine that she might soon follow, as seems so often to happen. Like many a brother, I was counting on my younger sister to do more than her share to keep the old lady going. Now she, my sister, has horribly metasticized breast cancer, which we thought she had beaten 10 years ago. The outlook is grim, and she (unmarried) will need lots of help. So now, ironically, my mother feels she has a purpose in life again, and I begin to see the road I’ll be travelling as well.</p>