Caregivers can come in small packages

Life is full of challenges but as you get older, the challenges seem to come more frequently. Our parents, spouses and siblings age right along with us and illnesses and deaths take their toll on us. In the last year, we've had some losses of loved ones - my older brother and my 93 year old mother-in-law. I was privileged to be one of the caregivers to both of them. Now, we are in the caregiver role again with my hubby's older sister, Faye, who has terminal brain cancer. It's natural for us to want to care for our loved ones in their final days - it's just another way of showing how much we care. But what is so amazing is what I have witnessed in the last few months in a ten-year old niece who has taken on a big role in helping to care for Faye, who is her grandmother.


This little girl has always shown a maturity that belies her age. But what she's doing now is remarkable. Grasyn spends every other night with her grandmother - sleeping lightly so that she'll hear her grandmother when she awakes during the night needing assistance walking to the bathroom. The next morning, she wakes up early and juggles cooking her grandmother a full breakfast while getting ready for school and is out of the house by 7 a.m. off to school. She is not being forced to do this. Her mother is in medical school and working full time, and Grasyn sees the need and fills it. It's part of who she is. She does it happily and takes it in stride that this is something she can do for a grandmother that she loves dearly.

We could all learn a lesson from Grasyn. See a need and fill it - not expecting anything in return. Show others that we care.