I Found My 87 Year Old Father Eating Cold Food Alone and Realized How Afraid He Had Become

the microwave confused him, and I had not been there to notice.

“Dad, why didn’t you just heat it up?” I asked, sharper than I intended. “Why not use the microwave?”

He would not look at me. He stared down at the faded linoleum he had laid himself in 1974, when his hands were steady and his back could carry lumber without complaint. The overhead light continue reading …