Dear Reader:
” Humble Yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
This whole recent experience …caring for my brother who is experiencing short memory loss and confusion …has definitely left me completely humbled … like never before… but yesterday God answered all my prayers and yes ….He lifted me up.”
It all started with stopping for Ben’s morning coffee…I let the owner, who knew the situation, know it was Ben’s last day and he made over him and threw in a free cinnamon bun.
When we were leaving the neighborhood my neighbors’children had made this chalk sign that made Ben smile.
But what really turned the day around was Chicago… yes the band-Ben’s favorite band. He excitedly asked me to turn up the radio and then started singing the lyrics to ” You’re My Inspiration ” at the top of his lungs! He would stop and tell me when all the different instruments would join in full force … pretending to be playing all of them. He was on a high!
By the time we arrived he appeared fairly oblivious to all the activity going on around him. He calmly watched as Lee and I dragged everything out of boxes and bags… until we were exhausted.
Soon his room was filled with his caregivers, hall staff members, counselors -he hadn’t had that much excitement in a long time.
We were treated to lunch in the room by the staff. And then another God Wink…a secretary who used to work with Ben in Special Education was right down the hall and coming in to take him to Happy Hour.
By the time Lee and I went to leave… Ben was so sleepy he couldn’t keep his eyes open and just wiggled his fingers at us. The moment I had been dreading all day was nothing like I had feared. Just a wave goodbye!
God had answered my prayers and held my hand through it all… just like he had promised!
So until tomorrow…
” If we all knew each morning that there was going to be another morning, and on and on and on, we’d tend not to notice the sunrise, or hear the birds, or the waves rolling into the shore. We’d tend not to treasure our time with the people we love. Simply the awareness that our mortal lives have a beginning and will have an end enhances the quality of our living. * Madeleine L’ Engle
” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh
***Ben left his phone which we did not discover until I plugged in the charger. Since Ben has struggled with his mobile phone for years and now is forgetting how to answer and respond… we are taking the director’s suggestion and getting a land phone to replace it-should be operational Thursday afternoon. So thank you for all the calls yesterday and Lee and I will work on sending out group texts to all of you with his new number.
Also thank everyone for their prayers-they were answered!
ichaseferalcats
John Turner
Legally Ohm
Becky Dingle
Oh so thankful all went well. You, Ben and the family remain in my prayers. Now take care of Boo and get some rest. I love you so much and admire you more than you’ll ever know!💕❤️💕
Honey…my response to you actually showed up under Jo’s comment….I think I got a little crazier these past few weeks…so to JO….yes we are all hoping his music will help see him through the transition. Music is such a great healer.
So thankful all went well yesterday. Songs seem to be remembered when other things aren’t, and Ben , being a musician, will get so much joy from his music and yes , he will continue to give joy through his music. So thrilled one of his songs came on the radio yesterday. That was definitely a God wink. I will be thanking God today giving both of you what you needed. God is good.
I actually slept for the first time in weeks….while Ben was here…I kept waking up at 4 and couldn’t go back to sleep…also because Ben prowled around at night and some mornings he was knocking on the door at 6 or 6:30…it seemed no matter how early I got up to have quiet time to think through the day…some mornings Ben would be there ready to get his coffee…a routine he had in Conway that kept going in Summerville. So yes…when I slept through the night last night…it felt so good.
So very thankful it all went well…God is so good…reminded me of the day that Mother left the hospital and was being sent to a skilled facility. I was following the ambulance and dreading how she would react and two things happened that were totally unexpected…a blimp was in the sky and in her usual joyful way she said “why look someone sent a blimp to welcome me” …and on the porch was Preacher Charlie and his wife Helen. He was a very wise black minister who had met Mother at the assistant living facility and they had bonded. He and his wife Helen had even taken Mother a few times to their church in another town. It was like God had sent an angel. Years later Fred and I had the privilege of thanking him and treating both of them to lunch with Mother…and long story short his real name was not Charlie…that was the name Mother called him…kinda made it hard to find Willie Whitworth when all I had to go on was Preacher Charlie and Miss Helen who served as the pastor of Massedonia Church about 60 miles away!
So many guardian angels among us…ready to do something that perhaps even unknowingly to them will make another person’s day, not only better and brighter…but sometimes even memorable.