"...A parent caring for a child paints with more shades of dreams. An ‘adult child’ caring for a parent paints with more hues of memories. A long term spousal caregiver paints a canvas where the years spent caring dwarf the years spent sharing. ..."
“… caregiving is a CHOICE; the person you are caring for has NO choice to be ill or disabled. You will always be separated by that reality. Choice motivates and can haunt….”
"... At best I’m guided by an ever evolving kind of “gumbo metaphysics”. I grab snippets from here and there that inspire me and throw them in to simmer. ..."
MetLife Study in 1999: “home care giving costs an (individual) an average of $656,000 in lost wages, pensions, and Social Security, not to mention negative health impacts.”
" ... I had to push thinking about “me” into the background ...trying to pursue a path toward a Stoic indifference to my own existence... “Life is a fight with fate as well as passions,”
" ... caregiver cowboys do not charge in with those proverbial guns blazing, you'll unnerve the person you are caring for and most likely hit yourself with a ricochet..."
"... if you can appreciate the esoteric reward from finishing your morning coffee then running full speed into an ever higher brick wall day after day, year after year, you will do fine. It can be done..."
Approximately 52 million people (31 percent of America's adults) are taking care of an elderly, disabled or chronically ill relative or friends. Statistic from the Administration on Aging.
"... I suspect many caregivers feel like they were on that proverbial road to Damascus with a world of different plans in life when suddenly “redirected”. ...
