The Faith of her Friends

Thankfully, I have not been sick this year so far! I attribute it to excellent caregiving, answers to prayer, and intentional healthy choices about sleep, exercise, breathing, and eating. I make sure to eat a balanced array of vegetables and fruits, proteins and grains each week, in addition to taking multivitamins, probiotics, elderberry supplements, colostrum, and water. My friendship caregivers do a great job of helping me maintain this healthy lifestyle.  But having 20-30 different helpers means that inevitably at least one person is usually sick! I'll get a call or text saying: "I have a cough/sniffles/sore throat today. Do you still want me to come?" It's taken me a while to come up with a good response to that... See, I am not a germaphobe or hypersensitive about stuff like that, so as long as a person isn't actively throwing up or running a fever, I am fine with them being here. Plus, I still will need help, so if one person can't come, I need some tim

This week I'm thrilled to have my dear friend, Julie Smith, sharing her thoughts and reflections with you on being a part of my caregiving team. I'm sure many of you will be able to relate to her and be encouraged by her insights!  One of the most challenging and likely most beautiful parts of caregiving (for the receiver in a community of givers) is the abundance of perspectives and expertise.  I am slowly recovering from perfectionistic tendencies that require me to do every job not only correctly but over and above the highest standard.  When you’re a part of a team of caregivers, you each bring something unique and special to the table.   Within that, questions can begin to roll in, gaining momentum until the largest snowball is blocking the threshold of helping: How do I anticipate needs like Pam? prepare food like Rachel? clean like Shannon? be as precise as Abby? know how to intuitively fix or replace things like Mandy? etc…. I know I am able to do some things well, but

I've asked a few of my caregiving friends to write guest posts to share about their experiences of taking care of me. This week's post is from my dear friend, Mandy Wood: Connie and I have been friends for years. We went to the same church, were in the same small group for a while, and had movie/game nights with our shared friends. When my family and I moved to Maine, she and some friends came out and stayed with us for a week. Upon the two of us moving back to Indiana, where our friendship had started years prior, she had reached out asking if I would consider being a part of her friend-care team. Up to this point, we were great friends but when that question vibrated through my ears, I have to say I was heavy with intimidation and did not want to be a part of it. What would this mean? This was a whole new level of friendship I hadn’t anticipated. I put it off for a little while and eventually forgot about it. It wasn’t until a month later when my grown daughter had mentioned

Lately, a bunch of us non-athletes have been mild-to-moderately obsessed with sports and way more patriotic than we typically are. That's because Team USA is totally rockin' it at this year's summer Olympics in Paris. I love watching swimming, synchronized diving, pole vaulting, sprinting, and soccer, but my favorite Olympic pastime is watching the gymnastics teams. I gasped and claimed Simone Biles was inhuman when she leapt twelve feet in the air, and I smiled and sighed when Stephen "Clark Kent" Nedoroscik took off his nerdy glasses and took on the pommel horse (my newest Hollywood crush). It makes me so proud of our American teams not only when they stick the landing and receive a nearly perfect score, but also when they show good sportsmanship and when they cheer each other on.  I have a championship team of my own, too! We can call it the Connie Care Team, but today I am thinking of them as my 2024 Olympic Gold Champion Team. A funny conversation piece I'