Hi, I'm enjoying reading everyone's messages, and so I thought I'd step in and write one too. I'm a 56 year old single person who never had kids and works full time. 4 years ago after my father died I asked my now 84 year old mom to come live with me. It was a very painful time as they had been married for 56 years, and were very close. I almost lost mom a few months after dad died, which I know is a fairly common thing to happen, but she rallied round and has been with me since then. Mom and I are very close, which is such a blessing, and I know that is not always the case. She has degenerative arthritis, and severe curvature of the spine which causes her to be in some kind of pain all the time and any movement is slow. I have two cats, one of whom has taken possession of my mom. Sugar now believes that mom belongs to her, and she will sit beside her on the bed and gaze up at mom with big eyes, meowing and rubbing up against her to snuggle (or in the cat world 'mark' mom as her property). Mom, who was never a 'cat' person has become devoted to her, allowing her to sleep up close. Sugar is a real comfort to mom, who will sit and pet her, have a little talk with her, and feed her little tidbit treats. I must say that this whole experience has turned my life inside out, and some days it's very hard to deal with 'everything'... I have friends that I go out and do things with, which is very helpful. I see that many of you would also like to be able to be paid to care for your parent at home. I haven't been able to find anything except through DSHS, which is VERY low paying, not enough to live on without being supplimented. I would love to hear of any kind of valid and real jobs that would allow me to work from home... Thanks, and have a blessed day!
