No I'm not going through what most people think of as "the change" but in the past couple weeks I have changed. Monday February 7th 8:30am my life changed. I got one those phone calls nobody wants to get. My parents were on vacation and my mom called with the news that my dad had a stroke. They were enjoying sunny south Florida and within moments of waking up and getting ready for the day, his whole life changed. Within a span of 10 minutes he was getting ready for the day to being transported to a trauma stroke center.
I'm not going to go through the whole story of what followed but suffice to say my dad is in ICU doing much better than he started 2 weeks ago.
How has this affected me? One would think I would come back and appreciate my family more and start exercising more and being less lazy, but unfortunately I am not there yet. What will it take for me. I saw my dad laying in the hospital bed hooked up to tubes and an ventilator.
So how have I changed, mentally. I remind myself every day that life is short and we need to appreciate what we have in each other. I am slowly getting to the point of eating better, exercising more and living life to the fullest. I am still me, I still get annoyed that the floor is dirty EVERYDAY. I still get frustrated with my kids and husband, however I find myself stopping and reminding myself that my parents would give anything to only have to deal with a dirty floor and whiny kids. I have the use of every part of my body fully.
My sister and I talked about how we are part of the sandwich generation. We are taking care of our small children and our parents. I remember my mom talking about that when she was in that position. Thankfully I have two other siblings to help with this task.
I'm learning to LIG it. LET IT GO! Let the crumbs sit there for a day, let the laundry sit in a basket needing to be folded for a day or two or five in order to spend time playing with legos or coloring or sculpting with play dough.
Finding the balance between getting tasks done that need to be done (eventually) to spending quality time with family is the challenge I have now. I'm trying new approaches and we'll see how they pan out. I'll keep you posted on that! For now, its time to do one of those duel tasks, spending time with kids and doing a job, change a diaper!!
