The caregiver cannot maintain his former life completely. But he cannot and should not give it all up. How does he find balance between the two extremes?

Today I’m celebrating new fruit from a relationship that began many years ago.

“There are two words we don’t honor enough. One is ‘over’ and the other is ‘next.’”

“Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.” This year I’ll settle for the foretaste while nurturing hope for glory someday.

We’re glad to see her again, but I’ve decided I just can’t give Christmas all she may want from me. And that’s OK.

“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” I’m trying, I’m really trying.

Through the decades, we stay the same, but our circumstances change. We approach life as we always have, even though life has become so different. Christmas is the perfect example of this.

I have lived a privileged life . . . even now. Especially now. That’s what I’m coming to realize.

Despite the difficulties in our days, here’s a gallery—just in time for Thanksgiving—to help me express a few ways I’m thankful.

“We ARE our memory,” a friend said to me. And this adds another layer of sadness—and resolve—as I watch my wife’s memory fade and falter.

“I’ve eaten the last thing my mother will ever bake,” just the first of a long list of “last times” we could write. But “last times” are not unique to Alzheimer’s caregivers.

I thought about home the whole time I was away. And it dawned on me that, although my grandson is great in every way, caring for a preschooler has definite similarities to my caregiving duties in Ohio.

I’m learning—and I’m determined to keep learning—that joy follows gratitude, not the other way around.

Protecting from the pain and loss that comes with all of life, preserving beauty for just a little while longer. These are the tasks of every caregiver.

Memories from birthdays past are a gift to ME as we celebrate again today.

Holding tight to the past is not a strategy that brings peace. I learned an important lesson from a caregiver friend.

Before I could ask her, my friend volunteered to solve the problem I couldn’t figure out how to handle. God answered my prayer when I hadn’t even prayed it!

Maybe you can use the advice from the magazine article I should have read several years ago: “The ultimate guide to building resilience so you can bounce back from tough times.”

Our nurturing weekend with friends has become an annual tradition. But when will it be time for us to give it up?

I’ll count it as a blessing that one gift of caregiving is seeing life with clearer perspective.