I recently spent a week taking care of my father while my mom took a well-deserved break from her responsibility of being his primary caregiver. Dad has Parkinson's disease, which slowly but surely robs you of your muscular functions. It's a cruel process; your whole life you've been able to move your arms and legs however and whenever you wanted, and then little by little you can't. Every day you wake up and can do less for yourself than the day before. You're increasingly dependent on others for eating, moving from place to place, using the bathroom, etc.

As a son, I found myself doing things for my dad that I'd never expected to be doing for him. Think of what you do to take care of a baby: all of that I was doing for my parent.

It brought to mind the words of Tim Rice and music of Elton John in The Lion King song "The Circle of Life." There really is a circle of life: you're helpless in the beginning, and most of us are helpless in the end. During all the time in between, surely we should be making the very most of our time on this earth.