Finding Balance

I've written before about my 88-year old mom. She's having a rough time; her husband David is declining into dementia and recently suffered a stroke. He had been staying at his son's house, where his son and son's wife were caring for him; now he has been moved to a hospital.

My mom is now alone in their house. The hospital is thirty miles from her, and she is not comfortable driving on the interstate. My sister is driving up today to take her to the hospital to visit David. I am driving up tomorrow to take my nieces to a Mother's Day banquet at Mom's church.

As you can tell, we are doing a lot of driving back and forth to help Mom (about an hour away). My sister has asked our mom to move in with her family; they have a separate suite in their walkout basement. It will be easier when Mom is living here. However, she doesn't want to leave her and David's house yet. She doesn't know what will happen with him; it now looks like he may not come back home.

I have found relief from stress and worry through exercise at the YMCA. I woke up this morning with little energy, but I made myself get dressed and drive to the Y. I started the class feeling fatigued, but ended up feeling energized. Also, I struck up a conversation with a woman in the class who has experienced similar issues with her mother. It helped my physically and emotionally.

I'm going to make every effort to get to the Y to exercise on a regular basis. I think I am finding a sense of balance.