Sad, Strange Day

Today has been quite the day. First I hear that my Brother-in-Law, that I've known for 33 years has passed away. He was part of the older members of the family, and my husband and I, are part of the younger; so we were separated somewhat by time, but also by circumstance.

Next I found out that my Mother, who suffers from Alzheimers, displays behaviors that will require further changes in her living situation and medical treatment.

Each day, it seems, brings new challenges with it, and some days they seem overwhelming, and solutions sometimes are not within our capability. I am a person who likes to fix things, I believe if you can't change them, at least you can do something to make them more tolerable, but some things just can't be fixed. Sometimes your options are very limited. That is when it takes all you have, to fix you attitude.

I know of a saying that says The truly happy people are those who have a source of happiness too deep to be seriously disturbed by ordinary troubles. Now these troubles are beyond the ordinary, but in order to rise above the grief you must try to find some source of happiness to pull you through.

I have many sources of happiness to rely on. I am lucky! But just as I was reminding myself of them, something else unusual happened. While at the home with my Mom, I heard a raised voice calling Help, Help Me!
Just being a visitor, and being accustomed to hearing out of the ordinary remarks while there, I waited a little to listen to be sure of what I was hearing. But then I heard it again, and something made me think this could be something different, so I rose and went toward where I thought the call was coming from. As I went around the corner, I could see inside the open door of a residents' room, and saw a very elderly woman, flat out on the floor. She had to be 90 years old. I went to her and asked if she was in pain and she said no, but she couldn't get up. I went into her bathroom and pulled the help cord, then went back to hold her hand until help came. There wasn't any blood, and she didn't seem to be in pain, and seemed satisfied just to have someone with her. In a few minutes help arrived, and she was checked over. Everything seemed to be in working order, and after more help arrived, she was brought to her feet and sat down on her bed.

It was amazing to me that she was OK. She seemed so fragile and frail, and the staff told me she had fallen only a week ago, and had cut a gash on her head about 3" long. I could see the staples in her head, when we lifted her. And yet, she seemed to just be like rubber this time and bounced back up off the floor. I checked up on her before I left and she smiled and seemed alright, though I'm sure tomorrow she will be sore and bruised, and I wondered why I was meant to be involved in this episode, on this particular day. Who knows, but it did make me feel better in that although there was little I could do for people in my family that I care about; there turned out to be some way I could be of help to a stranger. How weird! Maybe there will be a stranger that will end up helping me and my loved ones in a way I will never know about, in return; and isn't it nice that with all the sadness in this world, there is still enough good in people that you can rely on the help of strangers when you need them! With this truth, there is still always hope!