Elder care

The sun came out today, and I felt hopeful.

10 days ago, my dad was rushed to hospital for emergency colon surgery, 6 days in high care and an ongoing hospital stay to clear up pneumonia. He is now stable and blood tests are looking good – hopefully he’ll be able to go home this week.

But for a few days there, it felt touch and go. I thought this was It.

I decided not to talk about it a lot – mostly because I find the well-meaning necessary daily updates deeply exhausting. Putting into words what is happening when what is happening is so awful is destabilizing… I didn’t want to do it.

That also let me have a fairly normal work week, because I didn’t have to start each meeting with a meditation on mortality. (The Stoics would have loved that!)

We’re (almost) out the other side now, and I’ve started to be able to see past the end of each day. When I saw this beautiful post today, I thought yes! Soft and gentle patience. That’s what got me through these bad days.

So many of us are living through things we’re not quite comfortable bringing into the light just yet, and that’s as it should be. If this is you, at the moment, I’m sending you love, and strength. Patience. The softest form of love.

You’re not alone in this ❤️

Quote via @ourseasns