What was the hardest thing that you ever did for your parents?

Sgt David G Duchesneau I was the last one to see my father alive on October 8, 1995 as I drove back home from Philadelphia to northern Virginia I expected it would be the last time I saw him alive. He died over the weekend and his body was found by the police after nobody answered the door.
Six years later, I closed my mothers eyes after she died in a nursing home in Olney, Maryland in September, 2001. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for 20 years and hadn't spoken for 6 years. I sat with her body until daylight and then drove to Fort Belvoir for my pre-mobilization physical which I passed [18 months later I had mitral valve repair surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center]
The ashes of both of may parents are contained in a double urn on the top of the shelves where my daily medicines are stored. One of my duties is to watch over my parents remains. I know nothing can happen to them at this point but it is a sacred honor.

Sir, I couldn't tell you how many military funerals I've been apart of, folding the flag, playing taps or firing the rifles. Now I go to these details, as we call them in Honor Guard, without ever having known the servicemen and women I'm honoring, and I find that quite the burden to bear. Never could I imagine the grief associated with playing Taps at a relative's funeral. The hardest thing I've ever done was carry my mother's casket to her final resting place. Lord knows that was hard, but there's definitely a whole new level of sadness brought on by that song. I do not look forward to ever having to do that for a relative, which I have a few distant ones in the Marine Corps and Navy. But if it comes to that time, I would want to be the one folding that flag. Props to you, Sir, for performing that honor for your dad.

Honoring my father's decision to no longer have medical interventions for his gangrene secondary to diabetes, then holding his hand as we rode the transporting ambulance to hospice where he died a few days later. Driving him to Mt. Rushmore years before to fulfill his dream was my best time with him.

Sgt David G Duchesneau I left the house on my eighteenth birthday. I love my parents deeply, but I cannot, in good conscience, agree with their religious beliefs as Jehovah's Witnesses. I was told that I could stay, and do everything the way they wanted it done, or move out. I chose to go it on my own, and my parents chose to mostly cut me out of their lives until this day. I have missed home many times, but the experiences, and the wonderful mistakes that I made along the way have made me who I am today. Not perfect, but blessed nonetheless.

Sgt David G Duchesneau How nice a farewell to your father. Yep, I can imagine the sorrow also!