continued from above
But survival does not mean a life as he knew it. Grandpa is still not healthy and now requires round the clock care. Grandma can't do it, becuase she, too, is frail. Grandpa is too sick to move into an assisted living home and Grandma refuses, as yet, to allow a live-in nurse in their home of many, many decades.

So, for the past several weeks my parents have been living with my grandparents. My parents have moved from their elaborate semi-retirement home into an old house that is about the size of a two-bedroom apartment. They don't sleep much and they don't have much time for the things they like to do at Christmas time. They don't complain, but I hear the stress in their voices.

When my mom called, I knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell me she had no time to shop for Christmas gifts like she has for the past 29 years. No amount of explanation that I didn't need anything or even want anything would really comfort her.

I tend to get really wrapped up in my life and how much I would like it to change. Sometimes I stop remembering the people who let me get to where I am in the first place.

There's nothing I can really do to give my folks the gift of giving this holiday season...except to tell them...they've given me more than I will ever be able to use...

Most of all...they've shown me what giving is all about.

And it has nothing to do with gifts.