Life in a Day or A Day in the Life

I am sitting here on a Saturday morning (7/24/2010) and much of my family is at the cabin.  I'm here with MiMi waiting for my turn to go up next week.  It's a long story about 2 groups of people coming for annual events that we can't all be available for so we are splitting up our time.

Anyway, today YouTube is challenging everyone to video a day in their world and someone is going to put together a feature film of one Day on Earth.  Could be cool.  I may or may not participate.  I have a ton of video equipment (as you may well know) and on any given day could be doing any one of 10 different things I am "passionate" about.  But EVERYDAY (for the last year at least) has offered up ONE THING.  MiMi's slow but beautiful, graceful and emotionally draining demise.

Life in a day?
How about death of a life?
Forget about life AND death.
What about Life TO Death .  . . in a month after month struggle to simply make her comfortable in these last few months of her life. We lift her from bed to wheelchair, change her clothes and diapers, feed her and remind her to swallow her food or water (because she forgets).  She is awake only a few hours a day and carried around from chair to chair to bed, to chair again while she waits . . . for what?  To get better?  I doubt it.

But she's a happy person.  Never complains about pain or discomfort (so she takes NO drugs, except for a sleeping pill at night . . . she always wants her sleeping pill at night ;) and smiles when she can, and is just pretty much an easy going person. She's sleeping now.  Snoring away on my baby monitor.  Maybe I'll have a little time to get my camera out and share a day in our life.

I'm sure we can't be alone.  I'm always amazed at how many stories I hear about people who have taken care of loved ones in their final years.  The human spirit is amazing.  I know there are a lot of people alone out there, and who, unlike Mimi don't have family caring for them in their own home.  It doesn't always work out so well for everyone.  But we all do the best we can with what we have to work with.

Please comment or follow this blog if you are one of those people.  Maybe who has seen a loved one through their death, or is in the middle of their care taking at this moment.  If you are reading this real time . . join the Life in a Day project or watch for it.  I'm sure it will be more than life as "we" know it, but sometimes when we feel alone or overwhelmed, seeing or hearing about the lives of others puts it all back in perspective.

Whether or not I participate in the Life in a Day project (I'll share if I do) you can go to my website(s) and learn more than you'd ever need to know about me at www.KayZahn.com

OK?
Que?
Oh Kay (you are so funny)