A walk will do wonders!

Hello!  How are you today?  Be warned...today's post is a non-crafty one, so I will understand completely if you would like to duck out now and pop back in tomorrow for something covered in glue and sparkle! LOL I have been busy up to the eyeballs caring for my gma lately.  Away from home, away from my hubby and kids (although they visit when they can!) away from my friends, and away from my normal day to day life.  I came here not knowing how long I would be here.  I accepted that when I packed up and headed this way.  It has been 7 months now.  I have watched my grandmother winding down slowly.  She has become such a different person than the one I knew growing up.  She is even completely different than she was when I got here.  It is quite a challenge some days being her only care provider.  Seems that every day there is a new little something that we are figuring out how to deal with.  Some days her mind is very sharp and she is on top of every little thing, but other days she struggles to remember details.  Those days are becoming more the norm for us.  We even had a day last week when she asked me who I was.  The mind works in such crazy, bizarre ways and it is tough to watch her fading slowly away from the person that she once was. I am from a very small family and I feel strongly that family is the most important thing.  I cannot tell you how many people keep telling me how "good" I am to be here doing this for her, but to me it just feels like the right thing to do.  It's been the most challenging, frustrating, exhausting, demanding, amazing, wonderful, important thing ever, but it's the right thing to do.   I know that I am fortunate to have this time with her and I try not to take any of it for granted, but I must confess that I am really missing home!  Since I have been here there have been 3 very special people up here that have helped me out.  Two of them were friends of my Uncle's (my gma's son) and adopted my gma after he passed away and one is a friend of her's from church.  All three of them stop by at least once a week and visit her and check in on me!  They are all three amazing people and I am unbelievably grateful for them all!  Today one of them stopped by unannounced and threw me out!!  She told me she was here to sit with my gma so I could get out for a while. She offered me her car, but I declined settling for a nice long walk instead!!  What a wonderful mental health break it was too!  I snapped a few pics while I was out and thought I would share those with you!

I have one more picture to share today!  This one shows a glimpse of my gma's true personality!  

If you made it this far, I thank you for hanging in til the end!  I will be back soonest with something of a more craft-y nature to share! Happy Saturday and I hope you enjoy the weekend!