Last Responsibilities

I am now involved in my last responsibilities. I can, of course, assume some additional ones before departing the planet, but don't intend to under expected circumstances. My brothers and I are now taking care of our mother, who can stay in her apartment rather than having to be in a nursing home. When she returned from the hospital in Summer 2007, it was not expected she would continue for more than a couple of months or so. She is, thankfully, still with us.

Initially four of us were regularly involved in her care, but two have families of their own, so had to decreased their involvement time. John and I retired to continue her care, and I am thankful we were able to do so. John lives with her during the week; I take weekends. John has a girl friend; I have no life. I have no objections to getting one; it just doesn't seem to be working that way. Working back shifts for a number of years, I'm used to it, unfortunately.

When mom-care was mentioned as my "last responsibility," Tina quietly, calmly chewed my ... in a manner any top sergeant would proud to have mastered. She really got to where I lived, or as Tina put it, gave me some "brutally honest food for thought..." Well done, Tinar. Basically, Tina pointed out that my communications and connections with my children and grandchildren could use some improvement, to put it nicely.

I do realize that there is a spectrum of items that I could constructively pass on, and I could use my strength in writing to do so. I have a large number of notebooks of pen-and-ink variety that I alerted a couple of the kids to, but better to pass this information on now, when intentional communication forces improved organization and clarity---not to mention they could ask questions without holding a séance.

The first venture into this arena was the essay entitled: Being on the Right Side. Although no one had immediate use for it, a couple of friends did. One, Skip, paid me an ultimate compliment when he told me, "You nailed it." Wonderful praise, and from Skip, even better. Hopefully, my children will eventually find the technique therein of great value.

The "lessons" intended herein are the second venture into my expanded last responsibilities. Hopefully, these too will be found useful, even if only to illustrate how not to do things and worth the discomfort I feel at times in uncovering myself. There are advantages to reaching an age of not giving a rip about others' opinions. Perhaps that comes from scar tissue. I read somewhere that God measures one's success in life by one's scar tissue. Hopefully, it is not discounted by how much one causes, but no doubt it is and justly so.

So, thanks, Tina. Know you have enriched my life even more, and hopefully the following will in part return the favor.

I warned that it would start seriously, so I shall attempt to make the next post lighter. Shouldn't be difficult since it is about two of my great disappointments in life.