He didn’t see his mother very much before one day when it was disclosed that she wasn’t feeling well and wanted to visit him. In response to his surprised question about what else he could do for her, the woman with the final strength said:

Because our personal lives are now exposed on social media, one man opted to share a very compelling story with the entire world so that others would not make the same mistake he did. When he abandoned his mother, she was in a nursing facility, and her last wish was for his son to better the situation there because it was so bad.

“After my father died, I decided that taking my mother to a nursing home was the best option. I totally accept that I was self-centered since I didn’t want my life to depend on her, and I am deeply sorry for not even giving her life or comfort a thought.

So, when the day came and I found out Mom wasn’t doing well, I rushed to the nursing home and was able to film a farewell I could never have imagined.

I asked her what else I could do to make her feel better because her eyes were getting smaller and smaller and I could feel a tear welling up in my spirit. She explained to me that the only reason she wanted to refresh that nursing home was because there were times when she couldn’t eat because the refrigerators were broken, when she couldn’t breathe in the heat and humidity because the fans had failed, and when she couldn’t sleep because the springs slid in her back.

As I heard her words, I felt the world shift beneath my feet, and I couldn’t understand why she was telling me this now, rather than when I might have done things for her sake. I also received a response that completely changed my life.

She admonished me to be careful with what I left behind and stated that she wants to modernize the nursing home because she is afraid that one day, possibly, my children will abandon me there and I will go through what she did. “What you give is what you get,” she said.