The beginning of May, my 84-year-old mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. There is no cure, and the treatment that they hoped would give her some relief, didn't do anything for her. Within a matter of days she went from walking on her own to shuffling around with the assistance of a walker.
My days also changed, from wrapping up another home school year with the four at home, to becoming a full-time nurse and caregiver, taking care of my mom, handling her new medications, sitting with her at the oncologist, talking to doctors, learning about Hospice, conferring with family members near and far, setting up a Meal Train, comforting distraught friends, making sure my dad was still eating and had clean clothes, and more.
And while I've had my share of time just sitting and waiting, my brain hasn't really been in reading mode. I did, however, manage to continue to read some each day in my Kindle app, and I did finish one book. Rather than choosing to focus on the goals I'm not meeting, I'm choosing to focus on the fact that one of my other goals, spending more time with my aging parents, is being more than met. Although it's not exactly what I was thinking when I set that goal, I'll happily take it, and no regrets.
Go hug your parents if they are nearby. If you can't, pick up the phone and call them. See how they're doing. Ask about their day. Tell them you love them. It can all change in the blink of an eye, so do it while you can, and don't leave room for "I wish I had...."
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| Photo by Kamil Switalski on Unsplash |
I'm sad to say that the one book I did manage to finish in May wasn't even that great, but I'm still glad I read it. Even though I didn't love it, it did give me some new ideas and food for thought, so I'll count that as a win.
- Intermittent Fasting Transformation by Cynthia Thurlow, NP - ★★★ The title and idea of this book promised a lot, but in the end I didn't really find it to be sustainable. There were aspects of this book that, while reading, I thought, "Well, that might be worth a shot," but she lost me when it came to actually measuring the grams of food. I appreciated her focus on fasting around cycles (for different ages of women), and how that affects the outcome of IF. Lots of recipes in the back, but as someone who is still feeding five other people every day, I am not in a position to make two separate meals, and my kids wouldn't go for these, so...just take the good stuff from here, and tweak it to fit the life you have. That's what I'm walking away with. Three stars. {Amazon Associates Link}
