You may remember that my mother, at almost 97, fell on June 6th, broke her right arm, fractured her right hip, and then developed pneumonia. I rushed from Los Angeles to Little Rock and for the next 5 weeks took care of her day and night. I have never worked so hard in my life. And I have always worked hard. But this was different on so many levels.
The physical exhaustion was tremendous because I had to do everything for her. Moving her, pushing her, helping her stand, bathing her, etc. I also cooked, cleaned, shopped, ran errands. There was no down time. Each night I fell into bed dreading the next day. I was too exhausted to sleep well. I was waiting for my dad to appear at my door to ask for help to get mom to the bathroom. It was the hardest 5 weeks in my almost 65 years.
It took time to get a team of caregivers to come in and take over. By the time the arrangements had been made I was at the point I could not physically, emotionally, mentally do one more moment. I returned to LA and have spent the past 3 weeks working to recover.
We don’t just get over things in life. When we go through something challenging it is easy to say I am okay, when we are far from okay. I can tell you that I am becoming okay again. It has taken time for me to rest, to get back into a routine of self-care and self-love. I don’t want you to think I am not grateful for the time I spent caring for mom because she is walking. She is now able to take better care of herself. She can answer the phone again.
Love is powerful to help us do what we have to do in life. To face the hard, hard challenges we must. And to help us get through those challenges to heal. Not only from physical injuries and exhaustion but also from the emotional toll life takes on us at times.
Love has amazing powers to heal a broken mother. And a daughter who is slowly finding her footing again.
