Much of the current work about letting go concerns letting our children go as they travel through their life stages: infancy, toddlerhood, teenage years, and young and older adulthood.

Not much is written about letting our parents go.

I’m in the enviable position of still having a mother in pretty good health at 93. I am mindful that I’m one of the fortunate ones and that this is not the case for the majority of people. There are as many different experiences as there are aged parents.

Mum has an intact mind. She forgets words and names and often repeats herself. She sometimes appears with an old handbag that is way past its use-by-date. I usually give her a free pass for that — well, maybe a little comment.

As I watch my mother age, I’m awed by her. She smiles and laughs. She speaks her mind, which she always has done, but now any filter she had is pretty much gone. She is resilient, and she doesn't do guilt. I am based overseas, and I visit her at least 4 times a year.

The last 3 months have been a difficult time for her

She has had a partner who lived with her for 15 years. They lived independently, did everything together, and they were........

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