Caregiving March 26

I’m hoping that God’s cold weather here, or for any of you from coast to coast, realizes that God uses the cold to freeze our sins, or maybe it’s to get your attention. Now with Spring definitely making her presence known, we are reminded that soon our Savior will be crucified for those sins, and will arise three days later to claim that He is the Son of God, the King of the World, and give us salvation and life with Him in eternity. Have a blessed Easter.

March has been a very interesting month. Not only did I turn 3/4 of a century, and am half of 150 years old, according to my children. Payback is rough. I have had some fantastic conversations with those who are widowed over the past couple of months. I am still in the confused state of finding what is right and wrong, as I move into this single life. I’m working on it, as I know I have told you before, that you need to take care of yourself first. After being a caregiver, and losing my precious loved one, I now really need to take care of myself to find my new purpose and direction in life. I have found some great resources to help me, along with talking with those who have gone through the experience of losing a loved one themselves. I don’t know of anyone who can help you more, unless they have experienced a major loss in their life. More on that next month.

Today, I want to continue to remind you that taking care of yourself, in any role, is so important not only for you, but also for those who are still living. Most people are caregivers in some shape or form. We should have learned how to take care of ourselves when we were younger, which definitely makes parents caregivers. Even on the job, it is best to have a good working relationship with colleagues. That is why businesses offer such training. It improves productivity. Relationships with neighbors count, especially at a critical time. I remember when extended families were so very important. I was very fortunate to come from a large extended family that continues to get together yearly, around the Fourth of July for more than 60 years. I must admit my older cousins, including a half dozen who are a part of this group, might have different opinions about hanging around with me when I spent many summer days staying with them. Perhaps they were the ones that corrupted me in being that wild, crazy guy. Small towns aren’t always like Mayberry, USA. Nope, it’s all on me. I appreciate their continued love. Families are important, and we don’t want other situations to take away from supporting our families.

I know my kids, in their very early teens, didn’t have me around at times when I cared for my parents. However, I am fortunate that my children have learned from those experiences. I am also now aware not to take them away from their families. I do wish that I saw and heard from them more, but I know I’m loved. Yes, they sometimes think that I’m a little crazy and forgetful, or shouldn’t be doing something. They are right occasionally. As we age, and families go their separate ways, we can only hope that we were the parent that not only cared for the senior loved one, but also the younger loved ones.

This won’t happen if you don’t take care of yourself. I truly feel the presence of God in my work then and now. I was given strength to overcome, and now I ask for guidance on what to write. In fact, I had a different beginning to this newsletter, but a God Tap told me “NOT YET!” Make sure you listen, because when God uses a 2×4, those really wake you up fast. Sorry, I’m a little long. God made me do it! OUCH, I forgot He is always listening.

I hope you find something useful. In my conversations with a couple of you on being widowed this past month, it helped me to be more cognizant of certain information. I appreciate your feedback.

Please forgive any Norwegian errors.

LINKS: I am going to continue to focus on you, the caregiver. All of them may not fit you, but share with family or friends who may need a boost or support.

AGINGCARE WEBSITE: I cannot share these with you directly, but I have found them helpful if you choose to check them out.

Let’s talk about the spiritual aspect of caregiving. – AgingCare.com

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TODAY’S NUGGET: These nuggets are to be uplifting for you. Reminders that you can take with you or put on a mirror to see each day. I find most of them on Facebook. This one happened to show up on Luann’s birthday in February. God works in mysterious ways.