By Juliane Uhl
Juliane Uhl writes about her ageing grandparents and the moment when family members begin to stop sparing one another and allow help to become necessary. The family now drives to their house according to a plan and does small tasks: shopping, cleaning the refrigerator, installing lamps.
Slowly, everyone realizes that life in the house may not remain possible without changes. Cupboards are too high, doors too narrow for a rollator and the way from bed to chair too long. The family talks about the two old people they care for, but still too little with them.
Uhl reflects on the question of whether renovations “still pay off”. For her, that is not the right question: every minute is worth being as good as possible. If the grandparents want to remain at home until the end, the family must take that life seriously.
The article also looks at the younger generation’s burden. Who does what, who does more, who gives up which parts of their own future in order to care for the past? Yet the children watch, help, play cards and bring light into the house. In the end, Uhl writes, it is about all of them, because it is about life and death.
