Finding joy in the simple things keeps me sane from not fitting in. Blessings to you all. Is there something in the water here?
@squirrel-gardens Welcome to the forum. ❤️ Taking care of a beloved life partner with Alzheimers is a major life challenge. Above all else, above the powerful message you just posted about living where you live, I hope you will stay with us and tell us your story. Love, love, and more love to you.
As for whether there is something in the water where you live, I too would like to understand more about your question. Are you in a rural area or the city?
@squirrel-gardens. Welcome to the forum. I’m glad you have found us. Taking care of a loved one with Alzheimer’s is one of the hardest challenges of life, physically, mentally, and emotionally. And it must be one of the purest expressions of love to do this caregiving. I’ve seen it first hand when my mother took care of my stepdad as he slipped into dementia in the last years of his life. During the last weeks of my stepdad’s life, he was very confused, combative and lost in his own world. One day, we had arranged for all the siblings to come in for a family meeting and my stepdad was very happy and more cheerful than he had been for a long time. He couldn’t carry on a conversation and hadn’t been able to do that for a year or more, but you could tell by his behavior that he was happy. Afterwards, everyone had left and my mother and I were with my stepdad and he started talking coherently. It was absolutely amazing. He said, “pretty soon I will be passing through to mother. It won’t be long now! It’s been a privilege to live to be this old and to know you.” He was so happy about the thought of passing through to his mother whom he had loved dearly. These brief sentences were a tremendous gift to all of us, just realizing that despite his dementia, he was aware of what was happening and felt such deep gratitude. He lived a few more weeks and then passed through to his mother at 94 years old.
As you go through this with your husband, I hope you will keep this in your heart: that despite the behaviors and limitations of Alzheimer’s, he has a deeper awareness and everything you do matters. Sending you much love and strength.
I felt drawn to post this for all the "stuck" people
Change Your Mind (Sister Hazel 2020)
....
Of all your tryin'
Just give up
The state of mind you're in
If you're tired of fighting battles with yourself
If you want to be somebody else
Change your mind
Have you ever danced in the rain
Or thanked the sun
Just for shining, just for shining
Or the sea?
Oh no, take it all in
The world's a show ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSQxEgzWpkA
(FYI The guy who wrote this is an acquaintance and a beautiful person.)
hey @squirrel-gardens, glad you are here! Love your chosen name- it is impossible for me to read the words "squirrel gardens" without smiling
@unk-p and @squirrel-gardens, my yard is definitely a squirrel garden, especially when I fill the bird feeder.
I also hung two suet feeders this winter so I could feed the woodpeckers and other suet loving birds. Turns out squirrels like suet too.
First they climbed up on the pole and deftly opened the suet holder door, suet dropped to the ground and they squirreled it away.
So I wired the suet holder shut. That'll fix them... Nope. They unhooked the suet cage, from the pole, and the suet cage dropped to the ground, whereupon they dragged it away. But they couldn't get it through the fence where I found it empty the next day.
Next day they unhooked the other suet cage, and this time they figured out how to get past the fence and it disappeared forever into the woods. Okay, so, this time I wired the suet cage shut and wired the suet cage to the pole. This time the squirrels figured out how to hang upside down from their toes and eat away all the suet in the cage.
The other day I saw an obese squirrel in my backyard.
Then the grackles came and took over the squirrels. Unk-p, you said the grackles would leave by the end of April. Nope. They were able to empty a 20 pound pack of seed from the Old Yankee, grackle and squirrel proof feeder in a few days.
I have a new plan. Stay tuned.
@jeanne-mayell Unk-p, you said the grackles would leave by the end of April. Nope
? judging by the angle of the sun, it appears that we still have approximately 5 more days of "April". Just saying
I also hung two suet feeders this winter so I could feed the woodpeckers and other suet loving birds. Turns out squirrels like suet too.
...
The other day I saw an obese squirrel in my backyard.
That definitely made me laugh!
Just a correction-- the year on the song should be "2000" not 2020. Slightly simpler times (pre 9/11) but the message holds.