Well... this week's episode is a day late.

Which, considering what this episode is about, is actually pretty damn appropriate.

Because caregiving has a funny way of making you feel like you've stepped out of your own life.

For weeks, everything revolved around Mom — the hospital, rehab, doctors, decisions, phone calls, paperwork, and whatever crisis was waiting around the next corner.

Meanwhile, the rest of my life was apparently standing outside the door holding a clipboard.

Bills? Still there.
Laundry? Still there.
Mom's house? Definitely still there.
My husband? Thankfully, still there too.

And after seven weeks, I started realizing just how much of my regular life had been put on hold.

This episode is about that weird part of caregiving when you haven't stopped taking care of your parent, but you also can't keep ignoring everything else forever.

It's about the stuff that piles up, the decisions that keep multiplying, cleaning out a parent's home, trying to find a home that will work when Mom comes home, and making room for the people and parts of your life that still matter.

Including my marriage.

Because somewhere between rehab, paperwork, packing boxes and trying to figure out what happens next, my husband and I still need to be us.

Not caregivers.

Not problem-solvers.

Not the people having another conversation about Mom.

Just us.

And I'm realizing that maybe caregiving isn't about finding some magical balance where everything gets equal attention.

Maybe it's more like triage.

What has to happen today?

What can wait?

And what can I completely ignore without causing an actual disaster?

And if you're thinking, “How am I supposed to keep my parent taken care of AND keep the rest of my life from falling apart?”

Yeah.

We're talking about that.

Because you're probably doing more than you realize.

And sometimes getting through the day without everything completely going off the rails...

counts.

And apparently, sometimes publishing your podcast a day late does too. 😂

Episode 16: The Rest of Life Doesn’t Stop — now available.

Because around here, caregiving doesn't pause your life.

It just rearranges it.

And sometimes...

everything else can wait.

Send us your comments!

Before you head back to medication schedules, insurance paperwork, and explaining to your parent for the fifteenth time why they can't climb on a chair to change a lightbulb...

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