Gen Z Shares Tough Life Dilemma of Having Older Parents—'A Lot of Guilt'

A woman has shared the hardship of having older parents and trying to make monumental life decisions.

Grace Lemire (@grace_lemire), from Massachusetts, has an extremely close bond with her parents who are both in their 60s and she came to a crossroads when making a decision regarding where to settle in life.

The 25-year-old had to choose between fulfilling her dream of moving to a sunny state or staying closer to home to be near her loved ones.

In the emotional video which amassed almost 10,000 views, the content creator poured her heart out to the TikTok community who shared their support.

Grace Lemire told Newsweek: "My parents are in their 60s, and I'm 25.

"Sometimes it's challenging seeing folks my age with parents in their early 50s, knowing the time with my parents might be shorter.

"As a more sensitive individual, the fear of losing my parents is strong. I pray often that they get to meet their grandchildren, attend my wedding, and grow so old and wrinkly.

"I know some folks my age have parents older than mine, but some days my fear of losing them has eaten me alive."

Lemire shared honestly the conundrum she found herself in, which was choosing between moving somewhere that was closer to her parents or following her dream of moving out-of-state to a destination which is blessed with a lot of sunshine.

She explained: "I had a lot of guilt around wanting to go and live my life in accordance with what I want my life to be, which involves living in a really warm state where there's sunshine all the time, and I'm on the beach and it's just beautiful, there's a lot of guilt between wanting to do that, but also wanting to give my parents the most beautiful life I can."

The freelance content writer and marketer shared that she ultimately decide to move closer to her parents, but she still feels "bummed" by her decision.

She said: "There's still that part of me that wants to live somewhere else."

Adding to the torment of the decision, was the fact that her dad retired in December after working for most of his life, leading Grace to feel further conflicted, she explained.

After sacrificing so much of his life for her and her brother, Grace felt she should spend as much time as possible with him during this period of his life.

She explained: "Now it's like he's in this last chapter of his life and I wanna make sure he gets to do all the things he wants to do before God calls him home."

Grace wondered if she should wait until her parents have passed to build her dream life or should live her life while still in her 20s.

She told Newsweek: "I love my parents more than anything and choosing to stay in-state when I wanted to move out-of-state was an intentional decision.

"With my dad just having retired in the winter, I wanted this year to spend time with him, as I have a flexible job working for myself where I can just pick up and drive over to spend the afternoon with him. It's such a unique opportunity not everyone gets, and I don't take that for granted."

She explained she is extremely close with her parents, and she even calls her mom "bestie."