The Matriarch is Getting Smaller

Out for lunch today, I noticed the matriarch is smaller; her sweatshirt was falling off her shoulders.  I mean the seam of the shirt no longer rests on her shoulder but midway to her elbow.  It never occurred to me before the matriarch would begin to shrink as she got very old.  I know it happens; I just didn't expect to notice it.  She still ate her quarter chicken dinner (guess where we were?) but no dessert; although, for dinner, the peanut butter and jam request was fulfilled.  The matriarch's face has gotten narrower and her hair is thinning and I swear she is losing weight despite the constant sugar, fruit and endless Swiss Chalet.  I don't want to see her disappear and I feel like that is what is happening.  Does this go on for years?  Would I prefer it to continue despite the comments and judgments, the endless dissatisfaction?  Of course, I would.  I think.  Maybe this sort of anguish is why the old are hidden away in homes...I didn't want to face it when we came home from ballet this evening.  Mercifully, my mother-in-law had already gone to bed.   I joke, sometimes, that when I am old the children can leave me on an island and periodically drop off food.  I begin to think the Indian way is much better: to let the old just wander off on their own.  It is not nice to watch age come upon one so suddenly.