My daughter-in-law laughed as she gave me a $2 scratch-off for my 73rd birthday. Ten months later, my own son shoved a senior living brochure in front of me and said, “We already picked your room.” They thought I was too old to fight back. They had no idea what I had been hiding.

The house had a sunny kitchen, three bedrooms, and a small patch of grass.

Sophie loved the tree in the backyard.

Lucas claimed a room with enough wall space for his soccer posters.

Jessica asked what I thought of the kitchen.

I said it looked easy to clean, and she laughed with a sheepish expression.

“We’d have to do that ourselves,” she said.

“Yes,” I replied, “you would.”

We didn’t discuss whether they should take the house.