The other day a friend of mine who is even more challenged by computers, than I am, was complaining about how slow his computer was running. I asked him if he’d hit the “refresh” button and he gave me a look of total befuddlement.
“The what button?” he asked.
I explained that to refresh his computer: allow it to reset itself was sometimes all that was needed to fix that kind of a problem.
“Did you ever do that when you were caring for Leroy?” he said.
How I wish I would have thought of that possibility during those years of care giving.
Care givers need a “refresh” button on those long, hard days when cancer is in the drivers seat.
How hard all of us worked to keep it from getting to that place, but some days it just was not possible.
Remember the “bad news” days when the tears poured over the smiles?
Remember the days when the clock never stopped and the mornings ran into the afternoons and the afternoons faded into the nights and there was no rest, no breaks, no breaths?
OH, for a refresh button.
Just a moment or two, to find our resilience once a crisis had come and gone.
To all who are caring for a life, remember this post.
Refresh often.
September 26, 2014 @ 9:39 pm
When I look back on my caregiver days, there were times when I was a mess. It is probably because that was before Leroy started to share his experiences with the world and people realized that they weren’t alone in their struggle.
September 26, 2014 @ 6:44 pm
I really wondered where this was going in the beginning paragraph but you’re spot on as usual. I look back at photos taken months after Jim passed away and I still look so weary. Yes a refresh button would have been helpful.