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What do you do when your parents aren't dying, but they're not really living either? And worse—what do you do with the guilty thought: when will this be over?

Suzee's parents are in their 80s, healthy enough, but they've stopped doing anything. Just sitting. Watching YouTube. Existing. And watching it is surprisingly unbearable. But as Beth pushes, something harder emerges: Is Suzee worried about them, or uncomfortable that they've chosen stillness when she needs them to keep going?

Beth counters with her own difficult truth: she lost both parents young and admits there's a jealousy hearing friends complain about their boring, healthy parents. At least they're still here to be boring.

The conversation lands on an impossible question: How do you stay connected to parents who are choosing to disconnect? How do you grieve someone still alive but already kind of... gone?

There's no resolution because there isn't one. We end where we started—in the question. Whether you're frustrated by your parents' choices or mourning the ones you've lost, this won't fix it. But you're not alone in not having it figured out. We're all just getting used to it.

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