Finding Moments of Joy in the Midst of Crisis

Things have improved since my video update on Sunday. My father is still on hospice, but he is doing much better than when I arrived. The “Poonami” has abated. I learned this term from another caregiver and it seems appropriate to the circumstances.

My husband returned to our home on Monday, and I have settled into a routine here at my father’s house. Every day, I attempt to feed him three days. Breakfast is a little iffy, but he does eat lunch and dinner daily. I make small, easy to eat but appetizing meals. He likes sweet potatoes, egg salad sandwiches, applesauce. I’ve gotten him to like the strawberry milkshakes I make for breakfast - they’re actually high-protein fruit smoothies I make for myself, but he likes them also.

Mid-morning trips to the mailbox give him some sunlight and vitamin D every day. I string up his little dog Belle on her pink leash and harness and guide Gidget McFidget out the door. He climbs onto his scooter and motors out into the yard to join us.

Dad enjoying the sunlight

I downloaded an app that identifies different birds based on their calls. On our walks, I open the app and let it identify the different birds for us. He is fascinated by how it can tell which bird is singing, and I read different facts about the birds and show him the pictures. Yesterday, we heard 27 different types of birds in a ten-minute walk.

Not a bird. A butterfly from the yard.

His wife, my stepmother, has been transferred to cardiac rehab in a facility half an hour from the house, so I drove there this morning to bring her some of her personal belongings and clothes. I’m not sure how long she will be there, but I have found one positive to making the drive to see her. There’s a great coffee shop where I can get a 32-ounce cold brew.

Not quite a Home Depot bucket, but close enough.

After dinner, we settle down in dueling recliners. He sits in his vintage La-z-boy, and I sit in his wife’s chair with the built-in lift to dump me on my face if I’m not careful. The dogs are never far away.

Both of the dogs want to get in my lap, but Gidget McFidget has priority. Sorry Belle.

In between cooking, cleaning, caregiving, and chauffeuring, I try to get outside and enjoy the majestic beauty of the mountainside. How can you not have hope for the day ahead when it begins with a view like these?

Sunrise over the Smokey Mountains.

Why they are called the Smokey Mountains.

Purple Mountain Majesty

Every day is another day of birdsong, butterflies, sunshine, dog bellies, and mountain views. Some days you might even find a bucket of coffee.

Sweet dreams. Look up. The sky is full of stars.