Retired and caring for parent?
I was wondering if there were other people out there who would like to travel more,possibly full time,but are now caring for aging parent? We are caring for parent with Alzheimer's and,as much as we...
Forum Discussion
I just remembered a thread that was active here a couple of months ago that shed a lot of light on caregiving & wishing to be on the road, called "dealing with an elderly parent while on the road" or something very similar, I think (?) Do a search on this forum for "elderly parent" it comes right up, is about 5 pages long & offered a lot of different perspectives, not the least of which has been expressed here, saying that indeed, life is short.
We have all had friends/family members much younger than us that died unexpectedly, & there are ways in which you can find the time to go on the road, perhaps not full time for awhile but certainly in smaller doses. I just turned 62 & hopefully will still be kickin' for some time to come, but one never knows.
I plan to travel off "the rock" in the future every 3 months for about 10-14 days, keeping in tocuh by phone daily (as I do now) & even buying a class B van to keep on the Mainland, then later on trading up for a DP for full time living. Think of the ways that might be done? (Surely it has to be easier on the Mainland!)
Circumstances are different for everyone but seems I've heard many a story where the elderly parent lives longer than the children caring for them, and at times, I've felt that might happen to me. The future is so uncertain, we caregivers are basically "in limbo" and it is not easy to know what will come. We have to find ways to take care of ourselves as well, and that includes "time off" whenever feasible. It takes some ingenuity but can be done.
It's a very fine emotional line between feeling guilty for wanting a life of your own and leaving the parent for any extended time. There has to be a balance, or the caregiver indeed will not live long.
We have all had friends/family members much younger than us that died unexpectedly, & there are ways in which you can find the time to go on the road, perhaps not full time for awhile but certainly in smaller doses. I just turned 62 & hopefully will still be kickin' for some time to come, but one never knows.
I plan to travel off "the rock" in the future every 3 months for about 10-14 days, keeping in tocuh by phone daily (as I do now) & even buying a class B van to keep on the Mainland, then later on trading up for a DP for full time living. Think of the ways that might be done? (Surely it has to be easier on the Mainland!)
Circumstances are different for everyone but seems I've heard many a story where the elderly parent lives longer than the children caring for them, and at times, I've felt that might happen to me. The future is so uncertain, we caregivers are basically "in limbo" and it is not easy to know what will come. We have to find ways to take care of ourselves as well, and that includes "time off" whenever feasible. It takes some ingenuity but can be done.
It's a very fine emotional line between feeling guilty for wanting a life of your own and leaving the parent for any extended time. There has to be a balance, or the caregiver indeed will not live long.
