What makes life worth living?(If you answered “coffee in the morning” I’m with you on that, but we’re going a little deeper here.)What are the essential elements that make you feel complete, fulfilled, contented, whole? Do you need to have full mental capacity to have quality of life? Does it disappear after a certain age?The […]

I remember the day I brought my eldest daughter home from the hospital. All I’d ever wanted was to be a mother, and now I was, and I was terrified. My husband had to work that first night, and I was totally responsible for this little person. What if, what if, what if played through

Claudia sharing a hug with one of our residents, Jean —a guest post by Claudia Osmond. Thank you, Claudia, for helping me celebrate my 200th blog post! Have you ever felt insulted by someone saying these kinds of things to you: “You haven’t changed a bit!” “Twenty-nine and counting…” “There’s no way you have a

Last week would have been my 39th anniversary if my husband had lived. Every year on August the twentieth, I think about him and us and life as it was. This time I remembered that shy twenty-three year old who wore the dress her sister made and daisies in her hair. Her veil was long

I heard something on the radio today that disturbed me. The announcer was talking about a famous person who had recently died of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease.) He said that ALS and and Alzheimer’s are alike in that they steal the person away. ALS steals the body and Alzheimer’s steals the mind. Like a sliver

There’s a lot of fear involved in aging. I hear the fear of Alzheimer’s every day.I searched the house for my reading glasses and found them on my head. I’ve lost my keys three times this week. I knew that person so well, but do you think I could remember her name?Then there is the classic, I

Today I celebrated the long awaited “princess party” with my granddaughter, Hannah, and although we both agreed it was a bit low key, the day was fabulous. The Superheroes and Princess Party was put on by our community in the centre of the village. I wasn’t sure, at nine, if Hannah would still enjoy something

If you know me at all, you know my heart still breaks when pictures of our dog, Bailey, come up on the memory feed in Facebook. This blog isn’t specifically about him, but he taught me many lessons, and this is about one of those lessons. Indulge me in allowing me to share a few

Some people are good at the boundaries thing. When you approach them about doing something, you know they will carefully consider it.They will look at their schedule, the demands of their family time and whether they are actually drawn to an activity. They may pray about it. When they come back to you with an

Isn’t talking about boundaries and care in the same breath an oxymoron? Like jumbo shrimp or original copy, it seems contradictory. If you think that is true, I’ve learned two things about you. You don’t understand care, and you’re not clear about boundaries, either. Caring for an elderly person involves their physical care, emotional support