I received a sad phone call yesterday to let me know that a fairly close and popular family member has just succumbed to his terminal brain tumour, and died. Of course it wasn't unexpected, but was, as death always is, still a shock, especially as it was such a short period between his diagnosis and death.
It made me think about how uncertain life really is for us all. We all invest so much in the happiness of our weddings and the birth of our children that we forget, (or push to the back of our minds), the things we might be called upon to endure at a later date.
Maybe we ought to be a bit more realistic at the outset, and acknowledge that anything at all can, and does, happen to blight our happiness.
Of course we want what makes us happy and not what makes us miserable, but we focus too much, (especially nowadays), on things that really don't matter, like hugely expensive weddings and accoutrements for bringing up children, when really all they need is loving parents, warmth, a roof, sufficient food and moral guidance.
Why have we managed to get it so badly wrong?
That's why it's heartwarming to hear of so many people, here in the Care Community, who step up to the plate, take responsibility, do what they have to do, not only when it's done through love but even when it's isolating, dreary, soul destroying and the person you are caring for is troublesome, annoying, or downright ungrateful for all that you do.
So today I'm thinking not only of my deceased cousin, whose pain and suffering are now at an end, but of those for whom there's no known end date and who struggle physically and mentally with all the burdens of caring for another human being.
Cheers to you all, and have a good day.
Free for All on Friday
