Dear Readers,
I am discovering that caregiving is a religious experience!
Especially live-in caregiving—which is an around-the-clock proposition!
In late 2014, when I was asked to help my kid sister (“for a week or so”), I thought, Yeah, I can do that—not knowing that I would still be here ten years later!
I also did not know that she had an imperious dog, who would test my patience even more.
I distinctly remember my first day here. Rawbaw (my sister) had just told me, “You're just here helping me now, because you were such a rotten older brother when we were growing up!” She had a point. As I sat in a rocker in her living room, catching up with her a bit, I unwisely put my full cup of coffee on the floor next to the rocker—and Doggie Brooke quietly put her furry face in it and lapped it all up, while I was distracted by Rawbaw. I should have known at that moment that I was in for a long, hard ride!
But it has been a character-builder, too. I have found patience in myself I didn't know I had! And love for a cranky, old, wheelchair-bound woman and her quirky mutt that I didn't know I had in me, either. We are a motley crew, if ever I saw one—and a fairly tight team as well.
Most significant, I think, is my closer relationship with God since getting here and becoming part of a rather bizarre trio. In my youth, I used to ask Him for help or thank Him for helping, but now I more often ask for His advice on things!
It's kind of like Christmas when I was a kid. I'd ask Santa for toys—and I would get them—plus games, clothes, et cetera—but never really see or hear Santa. Same thing with God. I ask for understanding, and I get it. Along with patience, and the ability to dispense meds and somehow oversee the diabetic diet my sister must be on. I get help on all kinds of stuff!
Even with senility. I now know that if I don't write something down, it's gone! So, I write detailed things-to-do lists, updated daily, and that arrangement makes me look pretty good.
Rawbaw, who has dementia, often jokes with me about which of us will go around the bend first! Her dog thinks it'll be a tie!
Long story (fairly) short, I recommend the challenge of being a live-in caregiver, whatever your age. If you feel the need to make yourself useful, there is nothing quite like it.
—Michael E. Hearons
