Thanksgiving

I've seen on Facebook today a number of people who have decided to spend the pre-thanksgiving holiday season posting things they are grateful for each day.  I thought maybe I'd do some gratitude posts here on my blog but I only have 13 minutes to post before it is tomorrow.  Actually, I'm not sure that I want to commit to a daily post anyway but we'll see how it goes.

My brother posted that he was grateful that I tend to my mom which caused me to reflect that I am thankful that my dad is here with me.  I do spend time with my mom usually 4 times a week but my dad goes everyday usually for about 9 hours and sometimes more.  If he weren't here with me, I'd have to be there a lot more to help feed Mom if nothing else.  She is so slow eating that it sometimes takes a couple of hours or more to get through a meal and while the staff is happy to help, they do not have the time to sit with her for two hours and ignore all the other residents so having my dad there to see to her meals is a big help.  I am grateful for his willingness to care for her even as he pays other people to do it for him. He can't do it all himself so he needs the staff too but he does so much.  So many residents we have seen over the last four years have few to no visitors.  I can't imagine moving my loved one to a place like this and then not being there to oversee the care.  I suppose everyone has their personal situations that play into their choices but I have been saddened to see people in there go for months without seeing a family member.  There are some who have family on a daily basis or near daily but they seem to be the exception.  I'm grateful to my father for being the exception.