On a personal note ....

I recently took a week’s respite from caregiving and came back refreshed and resolved to make Navarre Beach my permanent home. I really do love it here. Most of my childhood was spent growing up in Fort Walton Beach (situated between Navarre and Destin), so as much as an Air Force Brat from the 60’s can call anyplace a hometown, this is it.

For the past twenty years, I have lived in Central Florida and loved it. I never planned to live anyplace else, so relocating back to the Emerald Coast has been difficult to deal with emotionally, most especially since moving in with my mother wasn’t a choice I would have made had there been any other options I could live with.

My mother hasn’t liked me very much for years. The feeling has been mutual. Please don’t judge me in this. To say the least, we’ve always had a complicated relationship.

But, happy to say, that by the end of my week’s respite, I was refreshed and quite happy that circumstances brought me full circle back to my childhood stomping grounds … and back to my mother’s house.

For those of you who have been following me, you know about the silver linings I have written about. More continue to reveal themselves. Our God is an awesome God. A new one is a happy change in the relationship between my mother and myself. We’re both changing, and for the good, I think. More on that later, … maybe.

The picture below is of a lizard stalking its prey. I watched this little fellow for hours while I was collapsed on my first day of respite. I confess I didn’t get out of bed for almost two days. I was mentally, emotionally, and physically drained from six months of 24/7 on-call caregiving with a very difficult patient. I spent the first 36 hours of respite alternately sleeping and binge-watching a sci-fi T.V. series.

I think this is enough for now. I didn’t plan to get so personal, but maybe it’s time. Hopefully my experience will be of help and encouragement to someone else. I’ll update you on what else is happening (all good!) in a few weeks.

Jocelyn Andersen writes and speaks on a variety of topics. Her work has been featured in magazines, newspapers, radio, and television. She has written several non-fiction books and is currently working on her first novel.

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