Whoever said that the small stuff doesn’t matter wasn’t a CarePartner. Sometimes it is the littlest of things that make the biggest of differences in my day. A smile when I wasn’t looking for it, an unexpected message from a friend, the look in my partner’s eyes. A morning when things are going well and he doesn’t need my help getting dressed, it all matters.

Walking alongside someone with a chronic illness can be depressing as we tend to see only the challenges as their disease progresses. In our case, his tremors are more pronounced today or he seems stiffer and is moving more slowly. CarePartners are always on the lookout for the next issue so we can smooth it over and make life better. What if we looked for what’s going right instead of what’s going wrong? What if, instead of worrying about increased tremors, I celebrated those times when he appears to be shaking less? What if I acknowledge that his routine is going well this morning and mention that he seems to be having a good day? How would that change our daily journeys, would it lighten the load for both of us?

My husband knows that I will always be there for him when he needs me, what about when he doesn’t? I need to remember that we are in this relationship for good and bad and learn to acknowledge when it is good. If I can consciously make note of those times when all is going well, I think that it will remind us both that they still outweigh the others and help us recognize all the small victories in this battle with PD.