Stories from Caregivers: Marla from CALIFORNIA
CA
Marla
FROM CALIFORNIA
Beginning in January 1990, I worked as a CNA for 10 years giving care to elderly and incapacitated individuals. For the following 11 years I went to school and became a geriatric recreational therapist bringing joy and fun into their daily lives. I am disabled now, but in recent years have had the opportunity of providing private care to an older person and a mental health individual. I am at this time the primary caregiver to my aging parents so they can remain in their home for as long as time permits. For me nothing gives greater satisfaction than to bring joy and life to people in our lives. Love is one of the most powerful emotions we can have, it enables us to give of ourselves no matter what it costs us. my mother is 76 years old and my father is 78. I have been taking care of them full time for the past three years. each week when I arrive at their home I get to realize that they are older than the time I saw them last and closer to their graduation day when The Lord calls them home. I arrive every Friday at 8:00 am to accomplish tasks that I know in my heart they can do, it would just take longer. laundry needs doing, dishes need to e washed, the bed is not going to make itself. I was overjoyed and amazed at the strength still in my father's hands as we built a cabinet together one day. each time I fold a piece of clothing or vacuum their chairs, I often realize the day will come when one or both of them will not need their clothes any longer, or the morning I will arrive and one or both will be missing from their chairs, where they spent side by side for so many years enjoying each other's company in their latter years. I rejoice in knowing that someday my father's hearing and body will be healed and my mother will not be confined to a wheel chair, but her legs will be healed and she'll walk freely in heaven with Our Lord. being a caregiver since 1990 for other people's family and friends, is very different from the honor of providing for the ones who gave me life, and all the sacrifices they made for me over the years, are of many reasons why knowing I God has granted me the place in life that I can give back to them the time and efforts they have earned throughout their lives. In closing I would like to challenge sons and daughters to return the investment due to our parents and people in our older community because someday it will be our time to reap the rewards of our own life investment. thank you Thank you, Marla J.
