Pause for the cause.

Normally I am a very impatient person. I hate waiting for anything.  I usually multitask all day long, physically and mentally. 

I have patience in one place in my life, helping my brother.   Everything my brother does seems to be in slow motion.  It is so hard to watch him do things for himself, I just want to reach over and do it for him.  Not because I am impatient but because I don’t want to see him struggle.   Waiting for him to get in or out of the car, sit, stand, walk, feels like time has stopped.  He pauses in motion…does he need help, is he thinking of his next move, is he willing his limbs to cooperate?  I try to always ask first, “do you need help?”  I don’t want to assume.  Sometimes he says yes.  Other times he says he can do it so I wait till he is done.

Helping him is the most important task of that day.  It is the only task of the moment.  I not only physically wait, but my thoughts slow down too.  Everything focuses to being in the moment.  At times it is almost peaceful, everything I do and think in my multitasking world pauses.  There is so little I can do for him, but I can make him the center of my attention for that moment.  Then, when we are done with that task.  I step away, take a deep breath…and all my multitasking tendencies come back in a rush.

If it were possible I would patiently wait for him for him for the rest of my life.

Tantrum thy name is, me.

So, I had this draft post titled “Toss me a pillow, I want to throw a tantrum” for a while.  This was going to be a lot of venting, spewing about the unfairness of life and this sick disease.  I don’t want to handle this like an adult, make the most of it, believe all things happen for a reason.  I want to cry like a baby, roll around and pound the floor, throw things, break things, raise my fist to the sky and scream from the tips of my seven terrible toe nails (I had 3 removed as they were beyond terrible).

Before I finished the post, I actually had a tantrum. I yelled, cried, threw my shoe, yelled at my cats, slammed some cupboards.  I threw an empty peanut butter container on the ground and “yelled, we are out of peanut butter”.  Why was that empty container on the shelf anyways?  I really wanted the PB and J sandwich! 

It was a small tantrum considering how much is churning inside me, I didn’t want to scare myself or my husband with the ugliness inside me right now.  I even told my husband he might want to stay somewhere else for a while.  I am afraid of what might come out of me and don’t want to hurt anyone.

It is very possible my brother may not see March.  I know he is suffering physically, emotionally and mentally.  He can’t stand to be dependent on anyone, it is killing him.  And he does not want his teenage kids to see him this way.  I get it.  I do. 

He is ready to go.

How do I get ready to let go?