I’ve sent over a number of spiritual and philosophical comments, this one is practical.

When Phil, my step dad, came home from the hospital after his cancer surgery his insurance covered home nursing and a number of other things that helped us make life work. Our insurance plan also has some great benefits that our People Team can help work through. I figure you’ve already done that home work but wanted to encourage you to look at all of the options. Having kind, skilled, experienced hands around for even part of the day was a huge help to us and let us invest time in the other ins and outs of keeping a home and family healthy.

You and Caron are my heroes, you’ve been through thick and thin on this and we all know the work’s not done yet. I know bringing a stranger into your home may not be the future you’re hoping for, but in the near-term, it may be the future that your whole family needs. I think there’s some kind of circular blessing pattern going on here, I found that most of the home health care workers who came through my folks house blessed us in ways we hadn’t expected. There is a lot of love between us but there was a time when each of us needed to just sit down, individually and love ourselves just a little bit, to catch our breath and recuperate. My Dad is the biggest giver I know, shirt off his back? No problem. But even he will tell you that if you don’t make a little time to rejuvenate you run out of steam and become ineffective. Our nurses were a blessing to all of us and sitting up on an overnight shift with one of them I realized that in a lot of ways we were able to bless them too, sharing Phil’s memories World War II, his time in the Navy, in Law School, working with the Hopi and Navajo, his teaching them to sing “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy”, letting them bless us with their care and kindness was a blessing to them as well.

Their gift in life is giving care, letting them give it is part of the circle.