peachmanstewart

When I started working with the elderly, I knew nothing. I didn’t know much about older people. I am the youngest grandchild on both sides. With multiple siblings in both my parent’s families, there were many grandchildren, and by the time I came along, the grandparents were elderly and coping with their own issues. I […]

            Taken on our thirtieth anniversary, two months before Bill diedHave you ever looked at a beautiful clear sky, and noticed one wispy white cloud? The next day is a violent storm, and looking back, you realise it started with the innocent cloud. Have you ever had that happen in

I was horrified when I saw her. Sitting at the entrance to the subway, she was bundled in a coat, hat and mittens. She leaned against a post.  People streamed by her, and she looked at them with a hopeful expression. She probably hadn’t seen 20 yet. Propped against her legs was a sign. “Having

Not many sign up to be a caregiver. When I was a young mom with two little girls, my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This was over thirty years ago, and I knew little about the disease. Neither did my dad, who was her primary caregiver. There were some supports available at the time,

Are you a caregiver? Many of you might answer negatively, because you don’t provide hands-on care, or get paid to give care. You don’t live with someone who needs help with the activities of daily living, and you aren’t related to the person needing care. That must mean you aren’t a caregiver. Google, Wikipedia and

There’s someone new in our house, and he’s turning it upside down. Literally. Our new ten-week-old beagle puppy is energy, fun and affection personified. Yes, he’s a lot of work, but so much joy, too. He’s snuggled beside me as I write, making sleepy puppy noises (which sound so much like meows, they make me

Have you ever walked into a raging windstorm? Swirling debris pelts you, and you close your mouth and even your eyes at times in defence. Step by step you go forward, but your one thought is, “When will this be over?” This week was a bit like that. Crisis after crisis (some of my own

I can’t remember. I wasn’t there. For those of us born in the generation after World War II, the best we can do is actively listen to the stories, and try to imagine how it felt. But is it even possible to imagine the horrors of war, or the agony of waiting at home? I’ve

I’ll never get a good neighbour award. Not that I’m a bad neighbour. I’m a quiet neighbour. I live my life side-by-side with people in my townhouse complex and smile shyly at them as we put out our mutual garbage. We all hibernate in the winter, emerging in the frozen night to go to work.

It looked like a gentle breeze could blow it over. The old barn had seen many harvests, been a safe house for cattle, and stored hay and corn husks. It was leaning to the left, and shivered as if it wouldn’t make it through another winter. Rather than pulling the sorry building down, the farmer