“Hi, Hannah,”
Kate yelled as she closed the front door.
This was our last day together. I
had known this day was coming since I interviewed her. Kate had graduated from
nursing school back in May and was looking for nursing jobs in the months
ahead. Typically, this is a situation I try to avoid because it means finding
another caregiver a few months later, but she was able to work on weekends, and
I knew she was fun and reliable. It turned out she was ridiculously
reliable—she covered for five days straight when another caregiver tested
positive for COVID. I didn’t regret hiring her… not once!
Peering into my office, she said,
“I’ll be on the couch until you’re ready.”
That’s a seasoned caregiver. She
knows I’m finishing up and chills out until I need her.
After pressing Save in Microsoft
Word, I pressed the lever to turn on my wheelchair with my right palm. Grabbing
my joystick, I rolled into the living room.
“Hey! How are you?” I asked.
“Sad. I’m going to miss you.” Kate
said as she stood up from the couch.
You have no idea, Kate.
“I’ll miss you so much. But for
now, I need to go to the bathroom.” Sometimes Mother Nature has a way of
pushing along sentimental moments.
Kate and I did our thing in the
restroom.
“Let’s get going. I don’t want to
be late.”
“Yep,” she said.
I was going to a church retreat for
middle school students. Kevin, my longtime friend and mentor, had asked me to
help out. I was happy to help. Readers, you may remember this as the
presentation where my communication device bonked out last year, and my speech
therapist had to run and give me her device.
Kevin texted, “Is the communication
device working?”
I replied, “All systems go.”
“OK, Star Trek,” Kevin texted back.
Kevin is always making jokes. I
love that about him.
We arrived at the church 40 minutes
later. I walked into the very large gym.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
“Good. How are you?”
“Good.” Turning to Kate, he said,
“And you are…?”
“Kate.”
Kate and Kevin exchanged
pleasantries. After that, Kevin and I introduced ourselves as the speakers. My
presentation was on joy vs. happiness. Here’s a little excerpt:
“Joy and happiness are two
different things. First, joy is a choice. We can choose God, and He gives us
joy. Remaining in a state of joy includes staying in conversation with God and
looking for the people who help in difficult situations. It’s understanding
that bad things in life happen, and we can decide what our hearts and minds are
going to focus on. On the opposite end of the spectrum, happiness is fleeting.
It’s an emotion. Emotions come and go; they are not stable. God’s presence,
however, is very stable. It’s always available. Reasons to be happy are
fleeting.”
You get the gist of what I said.
The kids were great and asked a lot of questions.
Then Kevin took over. He did team building
activities after my speech.
Kate and I left the church, and
since we were celebrating her last day, she got to pick the place for dinner.
She chose an Italian restaurant nearby. We had a lovely meal together.
One of her favorite things to do
with me was making greeting cards for the kids in my family. I loved her
enthusiasm for making each card unique. Kate had met two out of the five kids
in my extended family. She picked up the unicorn card.
“Aviva?” she asked. Aviva is my god
daughter. Kate quickly learned that she loved unicorns at her birthday party.
I nodded.
It’s little things like that I miss
about seasoned caregivers. They know the tiny details that make up my life, and
it’s hard when they leave. It’s nice not to have to explain every detail to yet
another caregiver.
Once those cards were finished, we
made a video of how she does my ponytail. She’s 5’0”, so she uses a stepstool.
Check out the video here: http://bit.ly/3DYH9CC
We were in the middle of my bedtime
routine when Kate offered to bring her boyfriend by the next day to treat me to
Starbucks.
Heck yes!
Since our last day, we’ve
absolutely seen each other and continue to. Are all caregivers like this?
Absolutely not. However, some caregivers do turn into really good friends.
I’m blessed.
Signing off,
Hannah!