In my young adulthood, my primary job was to care for my spouse and children. Then, as time became available, my work was to express care for my community in volunteer and civic activities. Later, during my professional career I did work that I saw as benefitting groups of disadvantaged people and to improve governmental capacity to function for the common good. In old age my job seems to be to care for those about me who suffer ill health.
I’m motivated to write about this because on Tuesday we spent much of the day with Martha, going to and from and sitting with her in the Emergency Room as a result of some previously undiagnosed cardiac issues. (She’s OK now.)
And further, a couple of weeks ago I began doing some coordination of the support network for my high-school friend, Marian, who had cancer. I had barely begun to address that work when she died, but in the course of that process I discovered Lots of Helping Hands. It’s an Internet tool for creating free, private, web-based communities to organize family, friends, neighbors, and others during times of need.
Perhaps we’ll use this mechanism to coordinate support for my brother during his illness. If we do, I’ll review it in a later post. In the meantime I’m preparing myself to travel to Australia when we leave DC on Tuesday. I’m impressed with the way my brother, Sandy, is responding to his situation and am looking forward to quality time with him, with Rae, and with their dog Sara.
The Juneau Journal 