Behind The Mask
I’m sick, and the computer keeps going down on me. This has been happening a lot in the last two months. Hopefully, when they come out, they can finally fix it.
Fixing me, isn’t so simple. When I get sick, I get sick.
So it might take a few days for the fever to leave, and the Cipo to kick in.
Can’t wait to talk to you again.
Love and kisses Helene
My Mirror
I looked in the mirror and what did I see?
Who is this stranger looking back at me?
When did I get this old, and become so bold?
Mirror, mirror speak true to me
And my future, what do you see?
Will I age gracefully?
And be remembered lovingly?
In my mirror, I can see smiles
Yes, I know Im walking my last miles.
But it’s been a wonderful life for me
And the future will be what it will be.
(C) Helene Moore
I’ve been sick all day and that is the best I can come up with today.
Give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing.
Adopt A Caregiver, and tell them your friend Helene sent you.
Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene
I read an article the other day that included a list to help reduce stress. I’m not going to repeat all of them, but these few are worth reading about:
Give you care-receiver a hug every day.
Remember to breathe deeply.
Choose one or two people you can depend on, to whom you can be honest, and able to vent to. This is one of the most important ones I read. So many times caregivers have family and friends who mean well, but they don’t listen well, and they do not understand what you are going through. They don’t know how to stand in your shoes.
That is another reason I published my book, Behind The Mask, so more people who are willing to help, will know what it’s like to stand in a caregivers shoes for a few hours.
My secret journal was the beginning of my new journey, Adopt A Caregiver. People do want to help, and they can, they just don’t know how. That’s why I say Adopt A Caregiver starts in the community. Your community. You hear about those folks who are new caregivers.
Email them, offfer to be their friend. Do not judge them, but do encourage them to vent. To write in a journal. To list three things each day they are grateful for.Even very small things count.
Smile as much as you can, and the last one is to try some aromatherapy. Spritz some lavender on your pillow at night.
Give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene sent you.
Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene
I read this list from www.Home-and_Family/Elder-Care. Thank you for printing this list. It will help someone.
Everyone has a story, everyone has their own burdens. We are not alone, we just think we are. I urge seniors to start writing bits and pieces of their lives to leave for children and grandchildren. Imagine their faces, when they read things you did at their age. They only see you as you are now, not as you were then.
Our aging population is growing. Caregivers are being abused. There are stories every day in the newspapers about telephone scams, break-ins, and other types of scams.
Caregivers have enough on their plates, they don’t need this. What they need is a friend.
Give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene sent you. It all starts in the community. Your community!
You don’t know how a caregiver feels, read Behind The Mask, my secret journal that follows me for seven years of my husbands dianosis. We were the lucky ones, they changed his diagnosis, everyone else isn’t that lucky.
I am grateful! We are blessed.
Lets help wipe away some of the caregivers tears. One by one we can do this. All it takes is an email.
Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene
I wish I was more organized. No matter how many times I admit to myself that I have too many papers, there I go again, saving more. I’m always putting papers aside to read later, and all of a sudden I have a whole batch. Since they are on different subjects, where should I file them? Probably in the circular wastebasket.
I also spent some time writing on my story today. After that I felt brain dead. And believe me, I didn’t do that much writing.
Tomorrow is my relaxing day. I go to the knitting club here at Anthem, with a great bunch of women doing so many different projects. I love it.
Aside from all that, I am grateful today that I spent a lot of time with my husband Howard. We went out to lunch and that was a treat. I am grateful for his support for Adopt A Caregiver, and for his love notes every morning. I am grateful that the weather warmed up today. Even our Koi fish were swimming a little bit. Slowly, but swimming.
I am hurting, but I am grateful that I can type on the computer, and that I can read my book, and do a knitting project. I am grateful to my loyal readers who come back day after day to read my blog.
I am grateful just to be me.
I am grateful that I adopted my caregivers and that I write to them on a regular basis and I hope you all will spread my words so that my vision becomes a reality.
Give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene sent you.
Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene
Every day a new set of decisions to make or think about. One set of decisions is about the story I’m writing. Should it be a short story, or a book? It’s a very emotional story, so keeping it short should make it more powerful, yet it deserves more details, why the characters are the way they are, and why they are reacting that way. Silly kinds of decisions, but decisions to make.
Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Brain Fog, Restless Legs, and not enough sleep. No matter how much sleep I get, I wake up exhausted, and by the time I’ve finished breakfast, I want to just sit in my lounge chair and sleep. That means every day I need to make a decision on how much I can try to do, and how to catch up on a good day. Like everything else, unless you stand in my shoes, you have no idea what this feels like. I have so many ‘lost’ days.
Caregivers feel that way too. Only they don’t have the luxury of being able to make the decision not to do too much. What a joke that would be. They have to do what they have to do.
We have to help them. We can help them. That’s why I published my secret journal, Behind The Mask, so you could learn what if feels like to stand in a new caregivers shoes.
Adopt A Caregiver was born when Behind The Mask was published. I am so grateful for this opportunity to give back. It’s such a simple plan, based on the community you live in, work in, or play in, or even go to school in. If you find out there is a caregiver in your midst, by all means, try to contact them, be their friend. Let them vent, talk, explain, and encourage them to educate you. Encourage them to journal, to email friends, to do small things, like write three things they are grateful for. Some days they won’t be able to come up with anything, but maybe other days they can come up with more than three things.
Today, I am grateful that I was able to meet my 85 year old dear friend for lunch. I am grateful that my husband wrote me a love note this morning and that he supports all my efforts in my Adopt A Caregiver program. Today, I am grateful that I am alive, the sun was shining and I have a family I can be proud of, as well as true friends.
Give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregive and tell them your friend Helene sent you.
Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene
My life is never boring. My problem is me; I want to do everything. I have been especially creative these past few days. Thinking about my story and how to fix it. Someone suggested I put up my writing here, so it could be critiqued. I would do that, except for one thing. If it’s a long story, or a book, and I put up the first page or pages, you might think the story is going in one direction when in truth, it’s going in a different direction. Not sure how to address that, so when I understand how, I will start putting some of my writing here. In the meantime, our Sun City Anthem Authors is up and running. It’s still in it’s beginning stage, so there isn’t much on there .. yet. In the coming weeks, I should have two or three short stories or poems up on the site — www.AnthemAuthors.com
The other half of me works on Adopt A Caregiver. A wonderful job that makes me smile. If only I could get everyone to Adopt A Caregiver. They are all around us, everywhere in our community. Seek them out, they need a friend. Tell them your friend Helene sent you.
Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene
If you don’t know what it’s like to stand in a caregivers shoes, read my book, Behind The Mask
Tomorrow I’ll put another excerpt from my book here. Look for it.
A different kind of day for me, an all day writing workshop. I loved it. So much to learn, no matter how much I think I know, there is always more to learn.Thank you guys, it was great.
Several of my adopted caregivers wrote to me, telling me how happy they are to be adopted by someone willing to listen. Someone to share things with, since most caregiver’s families are far away. It’s the little things that count, and an email to someone shut in because they are caring for a loved one 24/7 is a blessing. Actually, it’s a blessing for both. I know because I do it and I’m rewarded by the replies saying, “You have helped me more than you can imagine.” Thank you.
My cause is a good cause, we just need to get my words out to people who can help plant the seeds. Adopt A Caregiver is a unique program that starts in your community. I will spend as much time as possible working to help people across these United States Adopt A Caregiver. It all starts in the community, where you live, where you work, go to school, your church, synagogue, poker club, golf club, anywhere you spend time with the same people.
I will speak to groups, churches, teachers, anyone who will listen. And together we will make my vision become more than a dream.
If you don’t understand what caregivers are living with, stand in my shoes,, read my secret journal Behind The Mask. It is available on this website and on Amazon.
Give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregiver, and tell them your friend Helene sent you.
Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene
