Family Ties

Goodness… so much has happened since my last post. My goal had been to submit a monthly blog post on life, events, and purpose. Life has been a roller coaster ride since April. This experience has reminded me of family ties and the bond we have with our parents.

“Love your parents and be ready to care for them. Many adult children are so busy growing up that they forget that their parents are growing old at the same time.”

Unknown

As many of you know, I live in North Texas and my parents live in South Texas. It is about an 8 hour drive. My parents are older and do need additional support and that is okay. I love my parents and will do what I have to do to make them comfortable. I actually retired in 2017 so that I would be able to spend more time with my parents.

I traveled to South Texas to help mom out with a routine, non invasive medical procedure. The result of this procedure was three strokes. For 35 days, my siblings and I lived at the hospital and a hotel. Our goal and only goal was to take care of mom and work to make sure she would recover. We spent countless hours talking to doctors, nurses, administrators to ensure mom had the best care ever. I had several uncomfortable conversations with hospital staff on visitation. With COVID, visitor policies have been changed to protect patients and health care providers which is perfectly understandable. BUT this was my mother and she needed advocacy to ensure she was informed of all medical decisions. The hospital made special arrangements to allow a family member to be with mom 27/7 and I am forever grateful.

Over her time at the hospital, I was able to reflect on so much. I thought of my whole life experiences with my parents. I remembered all the times mom advocated for me. I can remember a time in high school when we had this crazy coach who had a melt down and made us run for the entire class period because she wanted to teach us a lesson for losing a volleyball game. She even locked the gym doors so we couldn’t leave. Looking back…. that is just crazy. A friend and I climbed a fence to leave the area and went to a teacher’s classroom to let him know what was happening. I called Mom and she was at the high school’s principal office. She let the principal know how she felt. She was my advocate then and many more times after that. That is what parents do.

Everyone who is reading this has probably gone through a reversal of roles with their parents, or is currently in the process. Others will eventually find themselves in this role as our parents age and need our support. Family is important. There is no greater bond in life than that of a child and his or her parents. If there’s one thing this past year has shown us, it’s how important our families are. They make up a huge part of who you are. 

In truth a family is what you make it. It is made strong, not by number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring and love you show one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit.

Marge Kennedy

Celebrate with the ones who made you the person you are today. Love them and cherish the time you have with them.

Love you all…. Live with Purpose Friends….

Stella