Enabling someone you love is easy to justify in the moment and nearly impossible to stop once it becomes the default. And in the case of the 47-year-old brother, it’s also a great reason to be concerned. 

His 70 and 82-year-old parents have spent decades smoothing every rough edge of their 45-year-old daughter’s life, accepting each new medical inconvenience as proof that independence is simply not in the cards for her, and arriving at a place where DoorDash during daylight hours counts as progress. The brother watching this from one step removed has been telling them for decades what happens when they are gone. Nothing has changed. And that’s exactly why he shared this story on r/relationship_advice on Reddit.