Siobhan shares about the theme in the context of her personal experience:
My relationship with my parents is a central theme in my life. My dad has alzheimers and my mum is his main carer. They just celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary, and the dynamics between them have transformed as age has set in. Watching the change in their relationship from hardworking politicians in Europe, (my father was a member of the European Parliament and my mum worked with him), to the simplicity of their current lives where the main decision of the day is which cafe to go to and read the papers, has been a really beautiful and tender witnessing. Seeing how they both are dealing with aging and death, particularly of their friends, has been an inspiring example, heartfelt with no grasping.
Siobhan will also speaks about how to practice with the challenging dynamics that often arise with our parents: the wish to be approved of and the pain of not meeting their standards; or the difficulty of not being able to save, control or fix parents that suffer and struggle.