I grew up just outside of New York City and currently live in Brooklyn. In 2000, a year or so after my sister passed away, my parents moved a few hours north to a corner of Connecticut. At the time I thought "this is going to be a mess when they get older." And it has been, at various points...I've had to leave work to rush up and stay for weeks at a moments' notice any number of times. As one might expect, they've had a variety of health issues over the years, both large and small.
My father passed in 2019 after a long illness that included open heart surgery.
In 2024, my mother - whilst in the midst of treatment for her third recurrence of cancer - had two strokes and a heart attack. I had to leave the stage of a theatre, run out to where my car lives, pack it, and then run up to where she was in the hospital, eventually staying for more than a month.
Unfortunately, my father had a "I feel like you're stealing my soul" view towards being photographed, but this is my mother:
The rest of the time, I live three hours away and and have a fairly demanding career that only exists in New York so I can't be at every appointment and test and whatever else pops up. These are the people who helped, whether by driving either of them where they needed to be - tests, appointments, etc - bringing garbage cans and mail up their steep driveway, bringing books from the library, calling regularly or just by showing up, saying hi and leaving.
It's become a cliche by now to invoke Mr. Rogers and his famous quote about the helpers, but in this case it's very true. There's always someone helping.
If I've reached out to make your portrait I'd love to see your face here as well!
