Rough Driving

I was teaching a class this evening and as I was driving home and was driving into blinding snow. The roads were not slippery and the snow was not even that heavy but it was coming straight at the windshield. The fact that I do not prefer night driving in the first place and that I was dealing with a blinding snow made for quite an interesting ride home.

As I was driving, it occurred to me that I was probably experiencing some of the same emotions my mother-in-law does, living in an assisted living facility. For instance, I have done this drive hundreds of times. This, however, was the first time at night in this kind of snow. As I am driving fighting to hold the road and follow it, I see all sorts of vehicles pass me by as though they are having no problem.

My mother-in-law knows she cannot do the things she once did. Things that she used to do all the time, things that she used to do as a way to make a living, are things she can no longer do. Just like I found it frustrating driving a road that I know and had difficulty handling, she has got to have a hard time not doing those things she used to do so easily years ago.

There were stretches of the road where, for whatever reason, I had an easier time handling the road. Then it got tougher again. Sometimes my mother-in-law is right on the money and able to do a lot and sometimes she has trouble following seemingly simple information. Sometimes she too can follow the road only to find it turns back into the road that was giving us trouble.

If, when we deal with people in assisted living programs (specifically parents), this is the type of thing we need to remember. There will be times, and already are times, when the things we used to do so easily will be difficult. Just like we want to be treated nicely and have people understand (I did not mind people passing me but those that honked and flashed their brights at me, well that is a different story.

Forget the fact that one day we may be in the shoes our parents are at the current time, when it comes to certain aspects of our lives, we may already be there.