Help I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up: The New Growing Pains of Generation X

 

Disclaimer: All of these things have actually happened in the past week... strangely enough.

On Monday morning I woke up for school struggling to keep my eyes open throughout class. I flip through notes and listen to lectures from teachers, yet nothing prepared me for what I was going to hear at 8:30 in the morning. 

"AMERICA! TURN OFF THE ALARM!"

"AMERICA! TURN OFF THE ALARM!"

It was my dad.

At first I wondered why my dad was putting so much trust in America to turn off his alarm for him. However, I soon realized he was yelling at the poor Amazon Alexa across the room. He continued yelling at Alexa (aka America) until my mom told him to stop yelling at the alarm and shut it off herself. 

Now it is no secret that our parents are getting older, and at first when I was eavesdropping, I initially thought that my dad "is becoming a senile old man." But later in the week I realized that my parents are becoming older and that there is a need for people understand this about their parents. 

My dad continued throughout the week complaining about the pains that he gets from reaching for things from the McDonalds drive thru window and about lifting anything. And when I hugged my mom one night I almost knocked her down, not because of my pure strength, but because, as my dad stated perfectly to his wife, "You are a feeble old woman who has trouble with balance!" 

Our parents are not forever as I have realized throughout this week, and while it is funny to see them slip up on the name of their Amazon Alexa, I realized that it is important to look at these slip ups from both sides and not initially put down these flaws. They are who they are, and there is nothing that can change their future or who they will become.