peachmanstewart

         Just because “receiving gifts” is last on my list of love languages doesn’t mean I don’t like them! More than any other love language, this illustrates how they mesh together and depend on each other.      If your main gift is quality time, a gift has more meaning when  

“I don’t feel normal. I don’t feel like me.” As we talked, I asked her what she felt “normal” was. She told me about a time when she could do everything for herself, and used to run church groups. I asked my friend how long ago that had been, and we agreed it was about

Have you ever run into an old friend you haven’t seen for a long time? After the obligatory, “Hi, how are you?” the answer is inevitably, “Busy.” We wear “busy” like a badge of honour. Our time is full, and somehow that makes us better, more important people. For care partners, balancing life is especially

Beth stood in the aisle at the drug store, looking at rows and rows of adult diapers. What kind to get? “Who knew there were so many varieties?” she said to no one in particular. Immediately, she was transported back 30 years, listening to her husband describe the identical experience.  He had just returned from

Dr. Bill Thomas, founder of The Eden Alternative, poses an interesting question. What if almost everything we believe about aging is wrong? You’ve seen it before. A magazine article about a man who still runs marathons in his 90s. A woman who graduates from university in her 80s. Someone who is still working as a

Without purpose, life is flat. It’s a series of obligations, where we trudge through each cold, grey day. Nothing matters. Purpose brings colour and sparkle. It makes what we do in a day matter. Purpose is a job we love, relationships that matter, and making a difference. For someone with dementia, or who is elderly

Here’s a scenario. On a trip to the local drug store, I pick up several items and head to the checkout. I also need stamps, which I know can be obtained at the cash register. While I am placing my items on the desk, the cashier begins to fire questions at me. Do I want

Since I was a little girl, the words “respect your elders” were drummed into myconsciousness. To this day, when I call some elders by their first name, I see a vision of my mother’s eyebrows raised with the look. It’s a sign of respect to use older people’s proper names. There were clearer rules when I

Anxiety produces a great Scrabble score, but not much else positive. Two daughters faced a care partner’s nightmare. They had to move their exceedingly reluctant mother from her condo to a room where she could get more care. They shuddered when they remembered how they had moved her a few years ago, and this was