As was mine. And being one of those people who had never been sick a day in his life, when the stroke came, he found himself completely helpless for the first time and had to call her if she was gone over 10 minutes. While maintaining as much of the tone of being completely in charge as he could, of course. Part of our visits were to come see him and talk to him, but some were to occupy him for long enough to let mom finish a task or two, as well. He'd fret whenever she was off tho the grocery or hairdresser while striving to still sound and feel dominant. He could never just let that part of him go. We loved him dearly, but he could be quite difficult and unbending. Definately a product of both generation and some failures he percieved in his father he never wanted to duplicate.