Jobs and careers eat up almost all of our waking time. Often, we no longer have room for even just a few minutes of quality time for our immediate family module; much less the parents who, now growing old, had cared for us from birth till the time we were ready to live our own lives independently. Nursing homes, despite negative publicity even though rare, are our reluctant best option.

Parting with family is in itself a very tough episode in our otherwise comfortable and peaceful lives. Even if we know that our parent is being sent to aged care professionals who know better than us in terms of care for elderly people, we still feel uncomfortable in the sense that they will be away from us, missing us the way we will be missing them. Add to the fact that even though professional, the care that will be given our parent is potentially impersonal, the caregiver being a person not related to us. We, however, do not have a choice. We all know that it is not sensible to give up our careers or professions just be with and care for our elderly. In the end, we rationalise that "it is just a matter of getting used to".

Indeed we appeal to reason - for everybody's sake. We have our own kids to take care of and careers to keep so we can lead decent lives without having to pressure ourselves with extra effort and time to caring for our aging parents taking up needed space at home, potentially detrimental to all other aspects of our lives. We finally settle down and feel content with the thought that they will be in good professional hands. We also plan to set aside some time to visit our parted family every other weekend.

As we have settled down on having crossed a difficult psycho-emotional crossroads of our adult life, we have to rouse ourselves to pointed realities. In exchange for the professional care extended to our parents in the nursing home, we have to meet the obligation of paying for it according to agreed terms. Even with support from the government's health care programs, there are costs that are or cannot be covered and we have to pay them out of pocket. It is good if the family has a flourishing business or a professional income that can sustain these costs, along with all other obligations such as the children's education, mortgage payments, health insurance and medical bills, etc.

At any rate, whatever our situation is, we all know that we know how and are equipped to survive any challenge that may confront us mighty humans.

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