Two year old And Seventy-seven year old

Fall 2011: My youngest was barely two; my oldest was just shy of seventy-eight. That was when we moved Mom into our home. Experiencing daily life with my mom amazed me--in a sad way--but amazed me nonetheless.

Initially, I felt like my mom was above my baby in her ability to reason, in her motor skills and even in her speech, but not by much. I was amazed at some of the similarities they had in their behavior. Sometimes she would take food off of his plate, and he would scream. Then she would shush him and say "no, no" because she didn't like the scream. I found myself mediating between my mother and my two year old. It was a bizarre feeling to be explaining to my mother that my toddler was upset because she had taken his food. Sometimes I'd even take the food from her, return it to him, and go get her something instead. She would shake her head as if I were the crazy one.

Mom at my 2 year old's birthday party

Two years later, it has been amazing watching their abilities become more and more equivalent and then, eventually, watching his surpass hers. In my mind, I see it as a graph. My mom's line descending over time and my son's line ascending. At about 2 1/2 years old his line intersects with my mom's. At that point, his cognitive and motor skills begin to exceed my mother's.

Several years ago, I watched a movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The premise of the movie is that a man is born old and gets younger over time rather than older. At the time, the movie was amusing, but I have thought about it much more as I've watched my mom age and battle dementia. There is a disheartening similarity of the bell curve that could represent our cognitive and motor abilities throughout our lives. It makes me want to seize the day while I'm at the high point on the curve. I guess that played a part in the "mid-life crisis" that I started on my 41st birthday.  That is fodder for another post.