To me, the most disturbing part of this story came at the very end, where it says that he has just relearned, for the thousandth time, that his children are now in their late teens and early 20s -- whereas his last memory of them was as little kids.

If that were me, and I were just informed that my own little children had essentially disappeared, I would likely go catatonic. I mean, in a sense, even though they're still present as young adults, it's as if your children have died. I don't know how a person could cope with being told that even once, much less a thousand times.