It is the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and ya know, I wonder. Just what is there to be thankful for?
I have a cold/flu for the last 2 weeks, every bone in my body aches, but I still have to get up at 7am and can’t head down to unwind until 10:30pm.
Dinner still has to be done, and the battle to make sure a 93 year old eats enough, is constant.
You may be sick, but you still have to be vigilant, to make sure that a 93 yr old takes all of her pills, not just the one’s she thinks she should. (Thanks to the buttinsky of a home support worker).
A wife who shows up and then disappears for most of the night, because he just can’t cope with the old person syndrome. You know, the smells, the peculiarities, that old people seem to develop.
So what is there to be thankful for?
A routine that only changes when the health issues worsen?
A certainty that nothing you do, is going to prevent the final solution, the death of someone you love deeply.
A constant battle with Home Support Agencies that send workers who are, at best, there for the $20 an hour wage, not about making a difference in the lives of the people they come to help. A so called ‘non profit’ agency that is really about only making money. A government whose sole purpose is to line their pockets, not serve the people who elect them.
Really, what is there to be thankful for?
For Life
Yeah, life sucks, I feel like shit, but bottom line is, I have a wife, who in his own way cares, and surprises me with his affection at times. A mother who may be 93, but who is still able to recognize me, and talk to me.
The ability to actually hold back the dark forces of greed, indifference, by being here for Mom, is something to be thankful for. It’s not easy, and yeah, when you are sick you still have to fight through it and do your job, because no one else will do it for you. And that does make you stronger, for when you are going to have to face your own demons, devils, called BEING ELDERLY.
Not much to be thankful for, or maybe a hell of a lot. I don’t know which it is, at times, but when it comes down to it, it is the life I have, and at least I am alive to experience it. I guess that too, is something to be thankful for. The memories that can flood in, at just the right moment, that do, make this all worthwhile.
