When I visited India as a teenager, my uncles, aunts and cousins always inundated me with questions about America. What was life like here? Was it as fast-paced as depicted in the movies? Was everyplace clean? Aren’t there any poor people here? They marveled over electronic gadgets that we took for granted.

They always had so much praise for this country until the subject turned to marriage and the elderly. Why don’t Americans stay married? And why do they stick their parents in nursing homes when they get old. I never had any answers then. I still don’t when it comes to why 50 percent of Americans are divorced. But I plan to tell my relatives now that people in this society do not shun their seniors as commonly believed. And I will tell them the story of Ric Gomes and his father, Jesus.

Jesus, who turned 80 last month, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in August. His wife had just died and the question of who would take care of Jesus was never really posed. “Family is family,” said Ric, 52. “Family is number one.”

Last summer, Ric moved in with his dad and went from being a successful commercial producer in Palm Desert to full-time caregiver. It’s a job Ric has taken on with passion. He cooks for his father. He chooses his clothes and lays them out in the order they should be worn every morning. He makes sure his father exercises, takes his medication and a cocktail of antioxidants.