“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.