Last week, our air conditioner died.
This would have been inconvenient anywhere, but in Florida in July, “inconvenient” does not begin to cover it. The house became hot and sticky almost immediately. We closed curtains, shifted between the few rooms with portable cooling, and tried not to generate any unnecessary heat. Even cooking became a strategic decision.
What We Notice When Something Stops Working Read More »
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, a time to honor those who died in military service. Yet my grandfather firmly believed the joy mattered too. The gathering. The laughter. The freedom to enjoy an ordinary afternoon with people we love. In his mind, those things were not distractions from remembrance; they were part of it. They were part of what people fought and died to protect.
(Water)Melon and Memories Read More »
Yesterday was Earth Day. Today is Shakespeare’s birthday. It feels like the universe is asking us to pay attention to cycles — what grows, what endures, what we tend, and what tends us. In As You Like It, the melancholy Jaques famously declares that all the world’s a stage, and one man in his time plays seven parts. He wasn’t wrong. But he left someone out. All the world’s a care home, and all the men and women merely caregivers. They have their exits and their entrances, and one soul in her time tends many parts, each act being one of seven ages of caregiving.
The Seven Ages of Caregiving Read More »
March is not a month that settles down.
One day it offers light, energy, and the sense that things might finally be moving forward. The next, it pulls the rug out from under you and asks why you expected consistency in the first place. If March were a person, it would mean well and still change plans at the last minute.
Learning the Shape of the Day You’re In Read More »
Caregivers are trained—explicitly or implicitly—to fix things. We learn to anticipate problems before they surface. We watch for patterns, prepare solutions. Over time, this becomes reflex: something hurts, something breaks, and our bodies move toward repair before our minds have time to check in.
Responding Is Not the Same as Fixing Read More »
