Freak of Nature

There is that saying “a parent should never have to bury their child,” but when is a child ever ready to mother or father their parent? When is a child ready to watch their own parent writhe in pain and become so delirious from disease? When can a child care for their father as he once did for them when they were tiny ones with measles and tummy aches? It feels like curdled milk. Wrong and a freak of nature. When the roles reverse, it’s like lightning and thunder in the sunniest of days. Unnatural and unnerving beyond all belief.