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Recently we decided to pull all life support for my father. Mom, with her memory loss, is being put in a care-home. These two have been there for me for 67 years. Now one is dead and the other is beyond my reality.

Recently we decided to pull all life support for my father. Mom, with her memory loss, is being put in a care-home. These two have been there for me for 67 years. Now one is dead and the other is beyond my reality. It made me think that marriage vows are really a misnomer. They are really parenthood vows as well. Marriages may end, often more than once, but parents stay parents forever. You cannot divorce your kids. It is a life long servitude.

Parenthood vows: I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish (obey), until death do us part.

Those vows often have more lasting meaning for parenthood than as marriage vows. Even the law courts emphasize the parenthood aspect of the vows.

Did my parents realize that the "marriage vows" were code words for the demands, and hopefully rewards, that they agreed to if they had kids? When they made those vows, did they know that their kids will still be their kids (as adults) until death do us part. They may move back home, they may always need some form of help, they may bring stress or joy, and, above all, they will, to some degree, cause you anxiety till death do us part.

Did they regret having kids? Never! (OK, sometimes). Thanks mom and dad!

The vows should be honestly named to show the true nature behind those words. Okay - maybe not, or I may not be here. Now if only I had known it.

Leif Jensen, Prince George