The Caregiver

Dang... no great news to report of Kean continuing with his walking practice today.

I could tell he was not feeling too well and therefore, wanted nothing to do with putting

one foot in front of the other.

Poor little guy.

It was one of those cuddle days.

Good thing too.

It was kind of a hard day for me as well.

Kean lost another one of his sweet friends to cancer.

A little girl-- who reminds me so very much of Greer.

Same age, same build, same spark.

I ache for her mother.  I never met the rest of her family.

I just got to know Lula and her mom from the halls of the hospital

and the clinic for chemo.

Lula was pretty amazing-- she planned her entire funeral before she died-

and it sounds like it will be a spectacular celebration of her life.  I'm sad we are going to miss it.

These children really are heroic.

I had an interesting experience at the grocery store this afternoon while Kean napped.

There was a couple checking out behind me-- and while he paid,

the older woman put her hands on my cart and just stood there.

Her husband, (I assume) got all angry with her.

I smiled at her and told her, she was welcome to help me anytime.

She just stared blankly and I quickly realized she must suffer from

some sort of dementia.

I looked to the husband, gave him a smile to let him know it was all okay

and he just glared at me and then briskly grabbed her, pulled her hands from my cart

and steered her away.

I thought my heart would just break.

Don't you worry what her life is like behind closed doors?

As a full time caregiver, I more than understand how drained, empty and exhausted

you feel on a pretty regular basis.

However, how can anyone be so cruel to someone so helpless?

I guess I've been surrounded by the best of examples and so seeing something

like this just shocks me to the core.

I watched as my grandmother took care of my grandfather for a number of years.

It was a beautiful thing to watch-- I remember when he would say the same things

over and over again or re-tell the same stories,

my grandmother's attitude was "isn't it just wonderful that he can

get excited all over again".

She was the picture of patience and love.

And then there is my neighbor, Grandpa Bodily- a man I don't think I could adore

anymore than I already do.

His first wife spent nearly 5 years in a nursing home with Alzheimer's.

He visited her every single day-- except for maybe 4 days out of those almost five years.

She had no idea who he was for many of those years and yet he faithfully served her

day in and day out.

His attitude was she took such good care of me for all those years, it is just my turn.

Oh, if only more people would follow his sweet example.