My 80yr old parents are in the same NJ house since 1970s.a nephew did christmas lights and mom got tired of them being up this week so i stopped by to find my mom on roof "nobody taking these fcking lights down im fcking doing it myself...

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Mom1274@reddit

I'm blame the nephew/grandson...he put them up, he should've came back and taken them off. He knows how granny is.

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prairiehomegirl@reddit

My husband and I are elder Gen X, and our kids don't want us on outdoor ladders.

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Awwwww, you know how stubborn and determined our parents get when they want a task done. Aged in their 80s or otherwise.... My Dad does the same thing at 88yo and thinks he's still physically capable like a 30yo man. Still, scary stuff when you know your Mom or Dad climbs on their roof... My 89yo step mom will be outside squawking at him to come right down, as he throws a glare her direction and keeps going about his task. 😣😣Oyyy....

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Common_Scale5448@reddit

And single-minded. Like, this grout is going to be clean or I will die trying.

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Substantial_Layer_79@reddit

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Check on your parents while you still have them. Call them, and ask if they need anything.

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Ok_Location7161@reddit

Yeap I forbade my parents eve climb a ladder. Told them call me if needed.

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Ok_Location7161@reddit

Paying someone is better....my coworker was cleaning gutters and fell off roof, 2 months in hospital , then 6 months at,home.....to save 200 to cleab out gutters

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Medusa_7898@reddit

That’s a Jersey girl!

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Princess_Parabellum@reddit

My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's three years ago at the age of 83. He looked at me, looked at my mom, and said, "Well, I guess I should quit climbing on the barn roof."

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06alm@reddit

My 97 yo grandpa in a wheelchair “Can you believe they (his kids) took my chainsaw away from me?” He was one of a kind, for sure

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Plane-Print-3091@reddit

And she simply climbed out that open window!

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DiscardStu@reddit

When my dad was close to 80 he started building a tree house in their backyard for the grand kids to play in. By the time he started this project he was already having physical problems with his legs. He was walking with a cane and would occasionally fall and need help getting up. One day, I get a panicked call from my sister that he's up on a ladder with a chainsaw. All I could do was tell my sister, "Well, either he'll get off that ladder on his own or he'll get an assist from gravity. Either way, he'll end up back on the ground."

He did end up making off that ladder. And he did eventually build that tree house, albeit with one phone call to paramedics to get him off the platform after he became dehydrated and unable to move his legs, but he finished building it. Nothing was going to stop him.

God speed to your mom. I hope she made it off the roof safely!

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RedditSkippy@reddit

I can totally understand your mom’s attitude here, but whoa, this is not smart.

This is an immediate call to your sibling who is the nephew’s parent. They need to get over there and help.

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Ottomatica@reddit

I remember visiting my grandpa in the winter. He was mid 80's. He was up on his roof shoveling off some deep snow. The ladder to the roof was placed so steeply my dumb ass teenage self would never had attempted to climb it, let alone with a shovel and a bunch of snow. My father had some words for gramps (which he ignored).

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Globeblotter85@reddit

Real baller.

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87YoungTed@reddit

lol. love it. this is why i dont put shit up or allow others to put shit up on my property.

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Stillwater-Scorp1381@reddit

I love your mom’s attitude!

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MagentaMist@reddit

That would be me. When Christmas is over, it's over and the lights come down.

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swangeese@reddit

My dad installed hooks on the eaves to hold the lights.

He uses his grabbers to install/remove them.

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Training-Fold-4684@reddit

It must be awesome having Bob Dylan as your mom.

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Neat_Ad_3268@reddit

I'll do it my damn self is the cause of 99% of hip fractures 🤣

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MysteriousShallot279@reddit

Jersey girls (and moms) get it done

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gcawad@reddit

You can do it at that age, just know too many that fell and had a year of recovery.

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DickWhittingtonsCat@reddit

Yes, I don’t see the humor in failing to do the basic tasks to help an elderly relative so they place themselves at risk of death or a fall that will bring the reaper knocking in a year when mobility is lost.

Maybe don’t shovel the driveway so gramps can have a heart attack- although he is already deceased or immobile I assume.

Wonder how many people lose their elderly parents early from falls due to lazy middle aged relatives not picking up their shit or helping. Boxes and toys for grandkids left in halls etc. around stairs etc.

Of course you always get survivor bias- a Gen X and human trait.

All the kids who were traumatized by neglect and got into trouble and died from drugs or alcohol- or the tens and thousands of peers with a life changing and poverty inducing teenage pregnancy or the hundred thousand who died in car wrecks, they aren’t really here to gloat about how grand it all is to not give a fuck.

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Intelligent-Sun-7973@reddit

Is she italian?

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No_Masterpiece663@reddit

Now THAT’S a generation!

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771springfield@reddit

Jersey girls, the best in the world!!

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Junior_Statement_262@reddit

Oy!

My 82 year old mother was 2 weeks out of total knee surgery and I caught her trying to take the recycling cart down their steep/icy driveway. Oh dear....

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AKTamster907@reddit

Why take them down? Keep them up for next year. Maybe that’s just being an Alaskan. We actually will put them up the end of summer while it’s warm and just leave them up until they need changed out. We also deal with a LOT of darkness in the 8 months of winter we have. Anchorage actually does City of lights and encourages people to have lights up and on during our darker months (usually Sept-Apr).

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IxianHwiNoree@reddit

Yes, I can definitely see my mom doing this. "Let me help mom" gets "I've got it" every time.

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dirtybo0ts@reddit

Good for her! 🤘💪

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dysteach-MT@reddit

My 90 yr old dad goes out and works in his wood shop. With massive saws…

Luckily mom trained him to always carry his cell, and Siri is his best friend.

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Fearless-Penalty2206@reddit

That is my mom too!

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Melodic_Caramel1777@reddit

I like your mom’s can-do attitude.

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atlasfields@reddit

My mom is 79, lives alone, and would totally do the same thing. It’s vexing, but kinda admirable

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heavv75@reddit

Must have seen that video of the old gal hopping the fence and said, "ha, I've got this!"

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opus_4_vp@reddit

Good for her.

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Brs76@reddit

Same house since the 1970s ...two story....in new jersey. They've gained some serious equity

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raginghappy@reddit

Maybe why op hasn’t taken the lights down yet lol

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WayPowerful484@reddit

So what do you think they are going to sell and move to Florida?

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purplishfluffyclouds@reddit

Man - just leave up year round! It’s not like you have to turn them on. SMH I mean, she’s badass, but also it’s so unnecessary.

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purplishfluffyclouds@reddit

Man - just leave up year round! It’s not like you have to turn them on. SMH I mean, she’s badass, but also it’s so unnecessary.

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Beth0526@reddit

I hope I am rocking my 80s life her in twenty years!

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Sad_Carpenter1874@reddit

My dad was just as active until his quick illness and death last year. We’re still discovering all the things he had “fixed” while he was alive.

For example: The man rewired the electrical near the box and one can cut off the power to half the house using a pair of switches by the water heater.

Once my hubby found the issue and called up my uncle to let him know; my uncle told us to leave the house ASAP before something other “repair” was discovered.

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Independent-Gur-3110@reddit

It’s April. Makes sense and not sure why this is a surprise. Anyone that’s been over to her house since February on should have taken them down

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RiverWhole4388@reddit

I vote your Mom for RHONJ. She would be a lot more real and entertaining!

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FormerLaugh3780@reddit

My kinda woman, they don't make'em like your mom anymore.

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Fit-Narwhal-3989@reddit

She should clean the gutters while she’s up there.

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Defender15@reddit

And check the roof for any damage.

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pagit@reddit

After the gutters are cleaned and the roof checked, she can clean the chimney as well, just make sure dinner is on time.

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pagit@reddit

After the gutters she can clean the chimney as well, just make sure dinner is on time.

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Outrageous_Plum5348@reddit

Mom ain't scurred.

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stickybond009@reddit

Life is extending while the things that traditionally gave it meaning are in decline. Especially among the young, ever fewer people have a partner, children, friends, a religion, or (I suspect) a belief in progress. Instead we have our phones.

Now another source of meaning has come under threat: engrossing work. People have begun to experience “AI shocks” — moments when we suddenly glimpse how the technology could make us redundant.

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WhenVioletsTurnGrey@reddit

My step mother in her 70's shattered her ankle last year. She's still hobbling around 8 months later with a brace. She thought she should trim the hedge. She should have asked one of us.

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mb-driver20@reddit

Congratulations to her! She should be proud of ourselves that at 80 she’s still up on the roof.

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chanceofsunbreaks@reddit

This is GOALS for me, both the swearing and the roof walk! How lucky to have a parent so capable at 80!

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SplatThaCat@reddit

Yes, that would also be my mother doing that too.

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Apprehensive_Put4319@reddit

Gotta love Jersey.

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foxisilver@reddit

Mom/wife life.

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root_fifth_octave@reddit

Eighties! I’m living in the eighties. I have to push, I have to struggle, oh! Eighties. Get out my way, I’m not for sale no more. Eighties! Let’s kamikaze ‘til we get there…

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DooDooCat@reddit

I totally intend to do this. Wearing my tidy whities and a wife beater shirt.

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hesathomes@reddit

I stopped by my aunt and uncle’s house and found him On the roof. He’s freaking 84.

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catregy@reddit

Classic

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Compound55@reddit

Your mom is a badass

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tesyaa@reddit

Please cross post to r/newjersey

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oldschoolhc@reddit

leave em up, i still havent fully taken down my xmas tree

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Astronaut6735@reddit

My mom forbid my dad from getting on a ladder, but when I'm home helping him on projects I'll spot him on one of these. He likes being handy around the house, and I think he misses being able to fix things that need a short ladder. We just don't tell mom. If he falls backward, I'll break his fall and take the brunt of it.

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Present-Assignment99@reddit

Your mom is a bad ass!❤️

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colonelangus68@reddit

Fuckin A!

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RadRenaBoBena@reddit

Ugh… I can relate - 76 and 81. I keep telling them they have no business up there but they’re stubborn as hell. Thankfully my dad has finally given in and accepted it but mom still thinks she needs to get up there.

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93195@reddit

My sister does this with our elderly parents and it pisses me off. Loves coming over to their house to decorate for Christmas, but never comes back to take them down. I always get stuck with the clean up, and I live six hours away.

If you put ‘em up, then you take ‘em down.

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OrangeMustangGal@reddit

Dad had a knee replacement last month. My sister and I arranged for lawn care because we knew he would have his grouchy but on the lawn mower!

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Illustrious_Plant581@reddit

Good shit!

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micheleferlisi@reddit (OP)

My dad was in the driveway asking the same question...mom yelled back about the lights and my dads response was "what lights where?" Haha

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helpthe0ld@reddit

I remember my mom telling me about the time she and grandma were yelling at my grandpa, who was about 85 at the time, to get the hell off the roof. Wish I could have seen it!