Family and the Full Circle

When it rains, it pours, so the saying goes!

It has been a monsoon season, for my Dad, for our family, here of late.

It took Dad a long time to move on without my Mom, after losing her during Covid (not to Covid) but during that difficult time.

But he did, move on!

He made the decision to move back to Florida, where the majority of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are.

He put his house of forty-five years on the market, and put a deposit on a condominium in Florida.

In the process, on an otherwise pleasant Sunday afternoon, after church and dinner, he was in a car accident, while making his way back home.

It totaled his car, and sent him to the emergency room!

He was pretty beat up, but his worst injury was a broken right leg, a bad break of his tibia bone, right below the knee.

He spent nearly three months recovering in a V.A. hospital.

During this time frame, he had gotten a contract on his house, but it fell through, which affected his buying the Florida condominium. He lost that too...

It was back to square one

But, back to square one --- along with a diagnosis of dementia and cancer! During his battery of tests, (after his car accident) it was discovered that he has melanoma, on his lung...

Upon entering the nursing home, in order for his body to heal, he was diagnosed with dementia.

As I type, we have another offer on Dad's house, not to sound cliche', but if it is meant to be, it will be!

At the moment, he thinks that he has made up his mind about what comes next, but decisions often change, daily!

I, and my family, are where we have been from the start, doing... or rather, attempting to do, what we feel is in his best interest!

Giving him the space he needs, assisting as needed, in both care and decision-making.

It has been a rocky path!

We, too, have the typical day to day family problems and struggles, but we trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We approach each day, as just that, one day at a time, nothing more, nothing less.

We count our blessings, including, the start of, and the finish of - each and every one of those days!

Also, as I type, I think about others who are going through difficult times. They may have lost a job, a career, a marriage, their life savings ---- or worse, a loved one - to tragedy....

How do you begin to put one foot in front of the other once again, after you have lost a child to a crazed person in a school shooting? How else, but through faith; where else is there to turn, but to God?

The gist, the moral of this story, I suppose, is how our Parents raise us up as best they can, to be good adults.

A good parent knows how to give us room to soar, while making sure it is within a protected environment, expanding as we age and grow.

An engaged parent knows when the boo-boo's of life are small and insignificant, and when we need some one on one time, and an extra hug.

There will come a time when our Parents will need us to step up for them. A time when they will value their independence --- perhaps more than at any other time in their lives! But the stumbles, the falls, the forgetfulness... the later-in-life boo-boo's will butt heads with that coveted independence!

It is a real battle, a real struggle, for most senior citizens --- and their families!

That's when they need us, their adult children to come through for them.

To be there for them, as they have always been for us!

Knowing what is needed, and how much is required, without hovering and completely clipping their wings.

They're not going to ask.

A loving and engaged adult child, will recognize the signs!

They'll need our grace to respect and protect the dignity, they are so desperately wanting to hold on to!

Dad is healing well from his accident, the infusions will continue for, at least, two years.