This is the joy of life, learning from others, finding our way, and helping as many as we can along the way, but always knowing there is water in the well. And it does not belong to us. It is God’s gift.
Category: Transitions
Serving as a Caregiver
At times, caregiving is tough, but the care you provide others is a gift that eases suffering and provides support. You may find yourself having hard conversations about end-of-life wishes, eternity, and comforting fears about the uncertainties of last days. Listen patiently and answer compassionately.
Acceptance and Changing Seasons
Each season offers beauty, purpose, and challenges. In our minds, and hearts, we must see the beauty and purpose within our place in life. And we need to know God is sovereign—He has a plan in mind. He has a purpose. And He makes beauty out of our ashes.
When You Experience Grief AND Relief
You never really know how you will react, especially after years and years of trying to prepare yourself. My first reaction privately, Thank you God! Immediately, tears streamed down my face. Then I thought, Wait a minute! My mother was no longer suffering and confined to a bed, needing help for every basic need. I knew she was in heaven, so why the tears?
What Does Mother’s Day Look Like for You?
As I asked other mothers what their ideal Mother’s Day looks like, it unanimously came down to one thing: TIME. We just want to spend time with our children. It may not even be on the specific day, but we want time to be with them. We’d like a day that is stress free, and relaxing.
What is Beauty?
During the height of the global pandemic, I celebrated my 60th birthday. This was indeed a major milestone. In New Mexico, Salons were shut down, then reopened, then shut down again, and later reopened. All around me I saw women panicking about their beauty. How would they handle the grow out of gray hair, lack of perms and haircuts, and, worse, they so desperately needed their nails done. It was a crazy time for everyone. As I blew out my birthday candles, I realized that I had been coloring my hair for 32 years!!! OMG! For more than half my life, I had been applying toxic hair dye to my scalp every three weeks.
Moving Ahead
Emptying the house of its contents involved going through countless papers, knickknacks, boxes, closets, cabinets, and cubbyholes. Some decisions were easy; many others were not. How do you dispose of years of living, the lives of loved ones, and the mementos thereof?
Don’t Have a Facelift, Have a Life Lift Instead
When I’m eighty-five I want to look back at the way I was when I was sixty-five and think, hey I wasn’t bad, I did my best. I didn’t give up.’
Piecing Life Together After Loss
I’m a grief counselor. I work in hospice care, reaching out to the loved ones after the patient dies. I call them a couple of weeks after the death and ask them how they’re doing. Then I listen. Like many of us, one woman had just lost her elderly mother. “I’m better than I was,”…
What Will We Leave Behind and How Shall We Be Remembered?
We may leave our things but the real essence of ourselves is contained in our memories, and the memories of others. As you think about what to write, consider taking a class to guide you. I am only on lesson three but was eager to share what I’ve done, in hopes it can inspire others to write.