Caregiver's Support Group

Caregiver's Support Group

by Jessica Bryan

2017

Moving through time and space, doing what must be done.

Filling the moments of despair with distractions.

Reminding myself that I must engage in self-love to love another.

I know, I know.  But oh how difficult, how seemingly impossible to take the time,

To take away from the things I must do, the care I must give.

With effort I paint a vacant smile that masks the sorrow, the grieving, the pain.

I go, I gather with others. I gaze at them...the strangers who have come together to share.

They are burdened just as I am, but in their own ways.

We are standing on shifting sands,

Custodians of another's soul, as it exists in a failing body of fragility.

We observe without the power to alter the course of what is to be.

We are merely witnessing the steady progression of life.

Just as the sandcastles built along the shore in the blazing midday sun,

Are soon washed away by the pounding waves of the ocean,

We are reminded of the impermanence of the body.

But the sand...the sand that built the fortresses,

It is still there in the vast sea that stretches across the horizon.

It goes on and on and on, beautifully mixed with the living soup of creation.

We sigh, and find solace in this thought, this knowledge.

For it provides us with the strength to carry on.

Strong arms comfort, enveloping each other in understanding,

Without truly knowing.

We speak, we cry, we confide,

Knowing that somehow this will help ease but not remedy.

Too much...TOO MUCH to bear alone,

And so we find meaning,  purpose,  love, and will to continue,

As we group together in support and love.