Sounds of Silence

It's a strange thing, living with your elderly parents. Your life changes, obviously. Your routine changes, again obviously. But maybe not so obvious to most people is the way your mind changes. The way you think. The way I think.
Like this morning when I was just barely out of bed and had the thought that someday I would get up in the morning and not hear the sound of Mom's walker bumping into the bathroom door sometime between 8am and 8:30am, not hear dad coughing up phlegm sometime around 9am, not hear Mom groan as she settles into her chair for breakfast, not hear Dad rustling the newspaper ALL DAY LONG as he absorbs every word of every page, not hear Mom coughing on her morning pills, not hear CNN or TMC or eWST coming from either or both the living room and Mom's bedroom television.
I stood in my bedroom looking out at the stillness of the morning and imagined the inside of the house being still, and quiet. I tried to imagine how I will feel when that inevitable day comes. Will I feel relief? Sorrow? Grief? Will I miss all of those sounds and noises that I've come to expect every day? I complain and whine about those noises now. When those noises are gone, will I miss them? Will I want to stay in this house WITHOUT those noises and sounds? Could I?