By Elizabeth Downing, mytimesavers.net
Wednesday, January 16th, 2012 8:00 AM CST
No more New Year’s resolutions for me! Instead, I’m going to call them missions. And after attending the funeral this morning (Written on the 7th) of a lovely lady who left us much too soon, my primary mission is, more than ever, to provide the finest caregivers and personal assistants Southcentral Kentucky has ever seen to all of the special people who we might be able to help.
It’s such an easy thing to say “my dad will be fine this week, so I’ll think about getting someone to help him with the grocery or the laundry next week”, and then next week becomes next month and before you know it, dad needs so much more. Starting early with companions to keep our parents and grandparents engaged and active, who can then move into the role of caregiver when it’s needed, is a vital step toward keeping those older adults we love in their homes longer and independent to as great a degree as possible.
Sometimes I look at my mom’s hands and I wonder how many diapers they’ve changed, how many tears they’ve dried, how many rear ends they’ve swatted, how many pies they’ve baked, how many sheets they’ve changed, and how many hugs they’ve given. And I look at my own hands and wonder how I will ever do the many things I should do to achieve my mission. But I will try – my mom’s mission has always been to care for others and now mine is also. If only my hands were as skilled as hers!
