My needs, his needs, whose needs come first? In the midst of structured days, scheduled appointments, exercise regimes, how do we compromise to make sure everyone is okay? In our house we do it through communication and by being flexible.

The holidays an be a hectic time for us with additional activities that interfere with our everyday lives. We have a lunch date scheduled with family which means my husband will miss his exercise class for the day. Knowing how important it is to him, we are talking about how to make it up. We have exercise videos we can use or we exercise another day, a session we wouldn’t normally be doing. However, that session falls on one of the times I am out of the house volunteering. It’s like dominoes sometimes as we try to juggle his needs with mine. Thankfully, the folks I volunteer with know that his needs always come first and they are willing to work with me on rescheduling my time.

I can be flexible in fulfilling my needs, him not so much. The structures we have in our day are vital if he is going to continue his battle against PD. Sometimes it may feel like I am bending over backwards, but I am thankful that I can be that unstructured and be available to support him in whatever he needs. And when I kiss him goodnight at the end of each day, I can honestly say that my most important need is there right next to me in our bed.