We who have vigorous physical and intellectual powers have much to enjoy. Severely disabled men and women may have only a few things: The voice of a good old pal. Almond-scented lotion. A favorite music CD. Warm buttery sunlight on their shoulders. The taste of strawberry jello.
Wouldn't we, who have so much to enjoy, be awfully mean to deny severely disabled men and women the few things they CAN enjoy? And death denies everything: all sensation, all pleasure, all the goodness of the body and every glimmer of the mind in this world.
May our disabled loved ones always be in the care of someone who multiples their pleasures. Someone who honors their EMBODIED spiritual nature. Someone who treasures every precious glimmer of their minds.
Mrs. Don-o
P.S. I am 24/7 caregiver for my darling 90 year old father,
who is blind and almost deaf, and whose mind is failing from vascular dementia.
We keep him well-supplied with what he likes: peanut butter and chocolate chips (eaten with a spoon), the Mozart and Bach, on tape cassette with earphones, sauerkraut-pork-and-mashed-potatoes (German comfort food), nose-to-nose contact, and hand-in-hand. He can still receive Holy Communion. If he has a little pain, he gets a little morphine. Life is good.
That's why God gives strength to the strong. So we can give sweetness to the weak.
sauerkraut-pork-and-mashed-potatoes
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Mmmm, I love that too.
Thank you for your beautiful post. It sums up how I feel! Bless you.