Dear editor,
You didn’t sign up to be a caregiver, but here you are and that’s all there is to it, isn’t it. It came out of the blue but let’s face it all the signs were there and “don’t wait for your song to play, be prepared to dance to your parent’s tune.”
Just face it, “Let your agenda go and let them take the lead.” “Honour your aging loved one’s wisdom and insights and waltz towards a more purposeful connection and meaningful relationship.”
These are abridged answers for the change in your life written by Wendy Johnstone’s article Role reversal a common feeling among caregivers (Comox Valley Record, Sept. 11).
With parents getting older because of (among other things) improved medical science and life lengthening medication, it can become an unexpected challenge for children to provide long term care for their elderly parents.
It’s not uncommon when father, mother or both need extensive care, and rather than have them be taken care of by others for the rest of their lives, there is no better solution as to give them the same care as they provided when we were children.
It’s called payback time with the safekeeping of love and support that we were used to when our nightmare dreams woke us up and mother or father was there to sing us back to sleep.
In this way we can look towards a more focused connection and a more expressive bonding in a loving family relationship.
Ary Sala
Fanny Bay