A walk in the rain

Bernie and I are just back from a walk. In the rain. It got me to thinking, as it usually does. Rain is like a lot of things in life. You can’t do anything about it. I have to keep telling myself that about my mother’s Alzheimer’s. She didn’t plan on getting it, anymore than she planned on it raining today. She doesn’t even know she has the disease – at least not anymore. The doctors, and Harriet and I, have done what’s written, but all the medical expertise and love in our hearts can’t cure it, anymore than we can stop the rain.

 

Still, out there today with my hair and Bernie’s ears dripping, I realized there is something we can and are doing. We can be her umbrella, shielding her from this rain. And in trying to do my best at that, I’m slowly learning another lesson: how difficult a caregiver’s job is -- and how fulfilling it can be.