Long Term Care - Counting Our Blessings..

It’s easy to get tired of long term care-giving. I’m sure I’m not alone in daydreaming about easier days - days when Clay could get out of bed by himself or even stand up from a chair. Long term care becomes drudgery for the care-giver, not to mention dreary and frustrating for the person receiving care. However, for the last few days we have both been very, very grateful. More so than usual.

Clay and I don’t watch much news, but it has been difficult not to see the devastation and human suffering that the gulf coast has been experiencing. Insurance cannot bring back loved ones. There is no insurance for the long term care that many of these refugees will need - the cost of food, clothes, medicines, and one-on-one care that the elderly or alter-abled will need is mind-boggling.

It seems that natural disasters are becoming more frequent and intense, man-made disasters are becoming more wide spread and man’s inhumanity to man is becoming more prevalent.

It’s a good time to reach deep inside, find our Source of peace and love, and extend that with a helping hand to those in need. I suppose money is the best thing for those affected by Katrina, yet there are folks in communities across the nation, not to mention the planet, who can use assistance and care in many forms.

Even simply visiting a homebound neighbor once a week can make a huge difference in their quality of life. Offering to spell a caregiver who is in a long term care situation would also qualify you as an angel! Donating to food banks, giving blood, painting a house or fixing plumbing for someone who cannot do it themselves and cannot afford to pay, even simply smiling at someone passing by.

So, for those of us who have a roof over our heads, water to drink and food in our bellies, let’s forget about our daily “problems”(there will always be something to complain about), and let’s start giving back to our world. Let’s count our blessings, for they are many.

- Kimberly