When people think about caregiving, they often imagine the big, heavy moments: medical appointments, medications, emergencies, end-of-life decisions. What doesn’t get talked about as much are the smaller, quieter skills we develop along the way—the ones that don’t come with instructions but shape us just as deeply. One of those skills is learning how to …
The Impermanence of Things
I have posted about loss before, as it concerns family and caregiving. Loss of personhood of a loved one due to the ravages of dementia. Loss of who we, the caregivers, were before the demands of the job changed us. There is also the ultimate loss to death that we know approaches but work so …
What If I Don’t Want a Role Reversal?
Role reversals, when younger family member(s) assume parental duties over a parent, are just part of the caregiving landscape. Most of us do not like them. We probably did not want them in the first place. Yet here we all are. Meltdown on Aisle 3 Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com Who knew that wanting …
The Low-Hanging Fruit of the Emotional Response
Mom is mad at me again. I did not give her the response she wanted from me and she got angry. Angry enough to hang up on me, only to call again the next day. Dementia strips away a lot of the filters we all use to be civil in society. It has been said …
Continue reading "The Low-Hanging Fruit of the Emotional Response"
