Mom and Dad got back yesterday. I had been worrying about them since they took off to Europe. I wasn’t sure if they would be able to handle 10 days’ fast rhythm of travelling around in many different countries and cities, as well as those small things like time difference, climate or food. What if they got too tired? What if they got sick? What if they had falls?

I guess that after having been working in the area with aged people in so many ways and being able to talk to them and get to know their personal stories, especially those things related to their health conditions and difficulties in their daily living, even though I know my parents are very healthy and strong for their age, I still can’t help being paranoid. Probably it’s because I know too many people at their early 60s had already had their health deteriorated and suffer a lot every day.

Dad is 76 this year and mom is 4 years younger than Dad. Mom had been working full time until she reached 70 in 2005. Dad retired early at his 60s, but he probably got even busier than the time when he was working. Apart from that he had developed glaucoma in the past a couple of years, there is nothing really bothers him. Actually I don’t often link their age to their lifestyle. But when I come to that point, sometimes I was amazed by the fact that how they are managing their lives so well, and what they have been taking the responsibility of looking after others.

Last night on the phone, once again it was proved. Mom and Dad sounded full of energy without a bit tiredness. According to my sister, during the whole trip, she had to keep an eye on my father as he was actually too active. He carried his camera, ran around and tried to shoot the photos from different angles. Well, that’s typical…of my dad But my poor sister, worried that he might get lost. So she had to chase him to everywhere all the time, like a kindergarten teacher chasing 5 years-old boy:-) no kidding….

But, you know how much healthy parents mean to their kids? A lot….probably much more than million dollars or the value is simply countless. I found that actually I am an extremely lucky daughter to have parents like my Mom and Dad.