In conversation with my flight attendant friend Jewelee Landis, about whom I have written many times over the years, we were musing about life being like a smoothie. She, like most of us, wears many hats. Hers- wife, mom, daughter, granddaughter, friend, doggy and kitty mom and now grandmom to newly born pupsters. She is also, as I mentioned, a world traveler who came into my life in 2010 when she took care of me en route from Philly to Ft. Lauderdale when my mom had just died. Now, her life has shifted and she is caregiver to her beloved ‘Gran’, a.k.a.’Mom-mom’ who is living with her family. Alzheimers has become an unwelcome visitor to their home and Jewelee, Scott, Sabrina and Vanessa (her devoted firefighter/paramedic husband and adorable, creative, dancer young daughters) share the care for this woman who often forgets who they are. Although love always prevails, sometimes it seems to play hide and seek.
So, back to the smoothie analogy….lest you think I have Alzheimers….she was indicating that all of the ingredients of her life were tossed into a blender- trying to balance the various roles she claims. Off on trips, school events for her kiddos, making health care decisions for her grandmother, after having participated in the same for her father in-law in the last year or so, adopting a dog found on the road, not knowing that she was pregnant…the surprises continue. Sometimes, she says that the smoothie gets stuck in the straw and needs to be blended a bit more before it is ready to be enjoyed.
I have learned ALOT recently that we may not have a choice about the ingredients of the smoothie and that life is not always smooth, no matter how much we blend it. We do have a choice about how to sweeten the mix to make it palatable. Love is an essential ingredient and Jewelee has that in massive quantities; enough to fill a blender the size of one of those big old jet airliners that is her office in the sky.
Sluuurrrppp!
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