Sometimes other people offer me help and I am not sure how to respond. It’s not that I think I am doing great on my own and don’t sometimes need the help, it’s more that I feel okay in what I am doing. Those times when I really need assistance are, thankfully, few and far between. I am also hesitant to ask for help when it is my husband who needs the support and I feel like I am being disloyal or breaking a confidence. It’s an interesting conflict as I try to figure out when and where I can use help without impacting my husband’s individuality and dignity.

It is often difficult for me to acknowledge that I can’t do it all. I want to be able to care for my husband and house on my own, but, I’m not wonder woman and recognize that my expectations are too high. Friends and neighbors offer help from yard work to visiting with my husband to allow me to run errands. I am learning to accept some things now, and will keep the other names and numbers in my back pocket. We may not need their help right now but who knows what tomorrow might bring?

I appreciate that the offers come from concern, respect, and friendship for me and my husband and am so grateful to have people in our lives who care. We are lucky because our needs, at this place in our journey, are relatively small. Having a network of caring people are out there for when things change or progress lightens my load tremendously as I continue doing my best to make it through each and every day.