A lesson I learned.

When Jeanne was in the nursing home for 38 months, I found time to come home. And found solitude. So that I could recuperate and handle the next day. Almost as if I were on vacation for a few hours. I got so that I enjoyed being Jeanne's care-giver. Maybe because I was able to get away, so to speak. Every day. Inside my head. Inside my being. Getting away is a mental state. One must work at it. Mind over matter. Maybe it's impossible if one is a 24/7 care-giver. I didn't accomplish such a feat when I was 24/7. Only when I became an 8-10 hour-a-day care-giver. One has to learn to make time for one'e self. To, in a sense, take a daily vacation. A daily break. Then life begins to make sense again. I learned that lesson when I was an Alzheimer care-giver. And I still apply it today. --Jim Broede