In My Dreams They Are Still Young

 In my mind and in my dreams you are both still young.  As I sleep we take trips where dad is strong and takes charge.  Mom has no problems moving around or hearing.  In my dreams my dreams nothing has changed.  In the reality of the morning mom sits quietly in her own world.  Her hands are shaking and her knowledge of what all is being said in the room is almost nil.  Sadness fills me for I know her heart is silently breaking.  Her soul mate, my dad, is slowly succumbing to water that is putting pressure on his brain.  In the reality of the day dad eats less, makes less sense when talking and seldom has clear and lucid thoughts.  When he is lucid he understands where he is and what is going on and he tells us he does not want to live this way.  He's no longer capable of walking and most often he can't sit up on his own.  It's heartbreaking to watch and to listen to, as are the tears my mother lets out during times she acknowledges that we are losing dad slowly day by day.   A preacher asked me not too long ago why it was that he, being a preacher, had to live after his wife had died. I told him what I believe in my heart.  Preacher your works is not done. God still has work for you to do.  As we may or may not understand the why of the continued life my parents are living, if you can call it living, there is a purpose. Every day with them in this life has been a gift.  God's not done with them here yet.  As in my dreams I know when God does call them home they will be able to do all the things they can not do now.  They will not hurt, nor will they need for anything.  When God calls them home I will miss them, but I am comforted in the knowledge that it will not be long until I see them again in heaven. Until then they will be forever young in my dreams.