Day 51 ❦ Think outside the box today when you give

Day 51 ❦ Think outside the box today when you give

The Gift: A light-weight plate

I love the alliteration of this gift...a light-weight plate! I had a mother-in-law who was like my own. When my husband brought me into my in-laws lives, they accepted me as if I had been raised by them and I always looked to them as my own parents. I realize how lucky this makes me - not only was I embraced by my in-laws, but because I do not have a relationship with either of my own biological parents - I was able to have wonderful role models of caring, loving, accepting parents in my life - even if it was for a short 20 years. I still treasure that time with them and miss them both terribly.

My father-in-law was the first to go, which was a surprise to all of us - we had all assumed that because he was filled with life that he would be the last to go, but instead was struck down suddenly by a fast-growing brain tumor which left him incapacitated in a nursing home until finally his body gave up after a long 6 month hospitalization. His passing was very difficult for my mother-in-law who was practically crippled with osteoarthritis. During the 6 months that my father-in-law was in the nursing home, my mother-in-law had to rise to the challenge and begin to care for herself more so than in the past, and in fact, I have often wondered if my father-in-law held on that long to give her time to prepare to care for herself.

Alice, my mother-in-law, lost weight, gained competence in caring for herself and began to rise to the incredible challenge of moving forward as a single person and by the time Les, my father-in-law died - she was as ready as she could be. It was a difficult time in our family but my husband had a very close family and the siblings and grandchildren rallied to support Alice (who ended up living an additional 10 years...almost to the day). Sometime the support needed to be subtle because it was important not to point out her vulnerability, but instead to figure out how to bolster it. So the other day I found some really cute serving dishes that are made from plastic, but look like glass and are one-fourth of the weight - perfect for an active senior who still likes to entertain but who cannot carry heavy glass dishes. While I am at her house today, I replace some of those unused heavy glass serving platters with these nice light-weight plates and sneak away...giggling. I can’t wait for her to find them!

❦ Think outside the box today when you give

Authors note: While Alice did not find the platters while we were visiting that time, the next time we arrived at her house for the weekend, there were cookies laid out on the platters! FUN!