“When an old person dies, a library burns to the ground.” ~African Proverb For most of my life, I thought aging was about bodies slowing down—hair turning white, memory fading, steps getting shorter. But caring for my ninety-six-year-old mother has changed that. I now see something deeper and more painful: the slow erasure of wisdom in

“We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” ~Native American Proverb For years, I blamed my parents for my anxiety, my defensiveness, and my need to be right. Then I learned they inherited the same patterns from their parents. And theirs before them. This wasn’t about blame. It was