Love for the Caregiver

In addition to the challenges I face daily as a family caregiver of disabled children, it has also been the misfortune of my children and I to be preyed upon by some of the worst types of human being that walk the earth.  I tell you this because I want you, dear reader, to know that we have witnessed the worst of the worst.  Knowing this side of life, I am forever thankful to God for putting me in the caregiving profession.  It is through my job with +Comforcare Home Care of Austin that God has allowed me to also witness the best of humanity.  I have a kind and good man, Jeff Henderson, as a boss.  He truly has a heart for the people in the personal care business, employees and clients.  I have seen the beautiful interaction between spouses as one cares for the ill spouse.  Ladies, I am in no way trying to underscore your valiance and faithfulness, but I want to take a moment to give some respect to those male caregivers.  God has put these men into my path so that I can know that good men exist.  He has allowed me to see the best of them.  Since I have been a caregiver professionally, I have seen a couple married 10 years and she had Alzheimer's for 7 of those 10 years.  He still came faithfully every day to sit with his wife and care for her.  In fact, I have seen that scenario more than once.  It is a beautiful thing as a woman to know that there are men out there that fall in love with and cherish a woman in her senior years, instead of replicating a dysfunctional pattern portrayed through the media of men only chasing after young women in their child bearing years.  To see a man at his wife's side during illness and you assume they have been married most of their lives, then find out they have been married 10 years or less, gives pause to the depth of the human soul.  Then to also see a loving husband who devotes his life to his wife, in love and gratitude for the woman she is to him, blesses my heart in the sweetest way possible.  I want to speak specifically today to the husbands caring for a wife with dementia, some days she may not remember your name and you may feel sad, but rest assured that a woman will always know her sweetheart in the depths of her spirit.  She has a recognition in her heart of that one special guy who took the time to cherish her, endure with her, study her, and devote himself to her.  Whether or not she remembers your name today is not what is important.  What matters is that you are an imprint on her heart and a comfort to her spirit.  Be blessed my dear friends and I thank you for giving me the privilege of a glimpse into your love story.