First of all, I truly love my father but for the majority of my life he has refused to walk anywhere. He drives everywhere. Or he complains during most of the (short) walk. I live in New York City, I've never had a car in my life, and it's generally understood that when you visit me you will be walking and taking subways to get around. Everyone else in my family prepares for this, brings appropriate footwear, and walks. I never push anyone to walk super far unless they want to.

My father, however, for the last twenty five years has complained anytime we need to walk. Him: "How are we going to get to the restaurant?" Me: "We will walk" Him: "How far is it?" Me: "It's like seven blocks" And then he's unhappy. Then, while we are walking, it's inevitable that he'll say "how much longer until we are there?"

This has been going on for years. Now, he's almost 74 years old, he tells me that he's old, and his heart can't handle walking.

This may be true but I'm skeptical because he has complained about walking for the last twenty five years. Today, after dinner (three blocks from my apartment) I asked if he wanted to get pastries in my neighborhood 4 blocks away (so 8 blocks of walking up and back). There was no humidity, there was a cool breeze, and he agreed. Two blocks into the walk he started complaining and he said he couldn't do it anymore. He said that he's worried that he'll pass out on the way back.

I agreed to abort the walk to the bakery but I made the mistake of being honest with him and telling him that I'm feeling resentment because he has complained about walking for 25 years and he makes it really difficult to have him as a guest because we can't do anything unless we spend money on cabs. He then screamed at me. Literally screamed at me in public. He told me that I have to accept him for who he is and stop making him live life the way I want to live it.

I think I was too hard on him and I shouldn't have mentioned my resentment. But I can't help feeling extremely frustrated that he never made much of an effort to get in shape enough to be able to visit me and walk a couple miles.

EDIT: Just wanted to add some context since people asked about how far a block is here. A typical block in Queens where I live is 200 feet or 60 meters. This round trip walk would have been about 1,600-1,800 feet total (roughly 500 meters) which is about 0.3 miles (or roughly half a kilometer). It was also evening and the sun was down. And, it is COMPLETELY FLAT. In addition to this, we would have taken a break at the bakery, where the plan was initially to get a pastry and espresso, before we walked back.