After my son convinced me to move into a nursing home, I wrote him daily letters telling him how much I missed him. He never responded to any of them until one day, a stranger came to take me home.
When I turned 81, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, which made it difficult for me to move without assistance. My condition also made it hard for my son Tyler and his wife Macy to care for me, so they decided to move me into a nursing home.
“We can’t be taking care of you all day, Mom,” Tyler told me. “We have work to do. We’re not caregivers.”
I wondered why he suddenly felt this way about me, as I always tried to stay out of his way to avoid disrupting his daily routines. I stayed in my room and used a walker to help me when I needed to move to another part of the house.
“I’ll stay out of your way, I promise. But please don’t send me to a nursing home. Your father built this house for me, and I’d love to stay here for the rest of my life,” I begged him.
Tyler shrugged, saying that the house my late husband James had built was “too big for me.”
“Come on, Mom,” he said. “Let Macy and me have the house! Look at all this space: we could have a gym and separate offices. There’s plenty of room for renovation.”
At that moment, I realized that their decision to move me to a nursing home wasn’t about ensuring I received proper care, but about wanting my house for themselves. I felt deeply hurt, trying to hold back tears as I realized that somehow, Tyler had become a selfish man.
“What did I do wrong?” I wondered as I went to my room that night. I thought I had raised a well-mannered son, but it seemed I was wrong. I never expected my son to betray me.
With few options, Tyler and Macy took me to a nearby nursing home, where they said the nurses would care for me around the clock. “Don’t worry, Mom, we’ll visit you as often as we can,” Tyler assured me.
Hearing this, I thought maybe moving to a nursing home wasn’t so bad, because they would come to see me anyway. What I didn’t know was that Tyler was lying and just trying to get rid of me.
Each day in the nursing home felt like an eternity. Although the nurses were kind and it was nice talking to the other patients, I still longed to be with my family and not in a place full of strangers.
Without a phone or tablet, I wrote letters to Tyler every day asking him to visit or update me on how they were doing. Not once did I receive a reply or a visit.
After two years in the nursing home, I lost all hope that anyone would come. “Please, take me home,” I prayed every night, but after so long, I tried to convince myself not to get my hopes up.
One day, however, I was surprised to learn from my nurse that a man in his forties was at the desk asking for me. “Could it be my son finally came to visit me?” I said, quickly grabbing my walker before heading to the entrance.
When I arrived, I had a big smile on my face thinking it was Tyler, but to my surprise, it was another man I hadn’t seen in years. “Mom!” he exclaimed and gave me a big hug.
“Ron? Is that you, Ron?” I asked.
“It’s me, Mom. How have you been? I’m sorry it took me so long to visit you. I just got back from Europe and went straight to your house,” he said.
“To my house? Did you see Tyler and Macy there? They put me in a nursing home a couple of years ago, and I haven’t seen them since,” I revealed.
Ron looked at me sadly and asked me to sit down. We sat across from each other on the sofa, and he began to tell me what had happened over the two years I had been in the nursing home.
“Mom, I’m sorry you have to hear this from me. I thought you already knew,” he started. “Tyler and Macy died in a house fire last year… I only found out when I went to their house and saw it abandoned. I decided to check the mailbox to see if I could find information on where to find you, and I saw all your unread letters,” he explained.
I couldn’t believe what Ron was telling me. Although I resented my son for what he had done to me, hearing about his death still broke my heart. I cried all that day, mourning him and my daughter-in-law Macy.
Throughout my tears, Ron never left my side. He comforted me and stayed with me in silence until I was ready to talk again.
Ron was a boy I had once taken into my home. He and Tyler were childhood friends and inseparable when they were younger.
Unlike Tyler, who had everything he could wish for, Ron lived in poverty and was raised by his grandmother after his parents passed away. I treated him like my own son, fed him, clothed him, and had him live with us until he went to study in Europe.
After securing a well-paying job in Europe, Ron didn’t return to the U.S., and over time, we lost touch. I never thought I would see him again until he showed up at the nursing home.
“Mom,” he said when I finally calmed down. “I don’t think you should be in this nursing home. Will you let me take you home? I’d love to take care of you,” he offered.
I couldn’t help but cry once more. My own son had kicked me out of the house, and here was a man who wanted to take me in, even though he wasn’t my blood relative. “Would you really do that for me?”
“Of course, Mom. You don’t even have to ask. You raised me to be who I am today. Without you, I’m nothing,” Ron said, hugging me.
That night, Ron helped me pack my things and took me to his newly purchased home. There, I discovered he had a large family, and they welcomed me warmly. I spent my last years happily, surrounded by people who truly cared for me and loved me.
What can we learn from this story?
Respect your elders and never forget what they have done for you. Tyler didn’t appreciate his mother despite all she had done for him. He didn’t want to take on the responsibility of caring for her as she grew older and chose to send her to a nursing home. Family doesn’t always mean blood. Ron hadn’t seen me for years, but he never forgot the kindness I showed him when he was younger. In the end, he chose to repay that kindness by taking me in and caring for me for the rest of my life.