Making Friends With Solitude I used to hate being alone. I remember as a teenager, aching for the phone to ring, rifling through my closet for something 'cool' to wear, wandering the halls of my university residence listening for signs of music and laughter. I was restless and bored being by myself. But not anymore. My searching spirit was quieted by years of solitude caring for my children. Nicholas is 25 now and Natalie is 22, but for many of their growing up years, I was ...
Updated 07-15-2014 at 04:55 PM by Mike Weins (tweaked spam filter and fixed reference in blog)
After my Dad passed away in 1975 following his third stroke, I was angry. Really, really angry. I would sit in church, look at Christ on the cross and fume, "why does everyone go on and on about YOUR suffering?! That was NOTHING compared to what my Dad endured!" All these years later, the anger has waned, but I still haven't come to terms with what happened back then. My father was too young. He was from a generation that abhorred dependency, so he suffered great humiliation. I ...
Cyber Friendship, Love and Grief Before computers, I relied on a monthly magazine for my connection to other caregivers. I was a new mother of a baby with severe disabilities and that magazine was called "Exceptional Parent"(now re-named EParent Magazine). I would rifle through the magazine in search of the page titled 'Letters' and there, I would read messages such as "Hi, my name is Sarah and my son David was born with cerebral palsy. But it's not his CP that worries me. ...
The Language of Care - Have We Lost It? Recently, a friend and colleague railed at our collective lack of empathy for homeless people living on the street. "What kind of a society do we live in where we step over another human being lying on the sidewalk?" she demanded. I visualised myself on the street, seeing a human shape huddled under a blanket in a doorway. Then, I see myself turning away and hurrying by, afraid to speak. "What stops me from making ...