The Caregiver's Beatitudes

Book excerpt: Cancer. Stroke. Alzheimer's. These are just three in the list of too many diagnoses that cause the lives of the patient and their caregivers to tilt in the unexpected storm. This put me in a role in which I don't think I really have ever excelled at. I'm the big strong daddy, the strong and determined husband. I'm the intellectual, the rational, the factual person. I'm the one who thrives on logic and reasonable, predictable progression. Emotions need to be subject to the mind. Me? Give compassionate, loving, gentle care to someone dealing with a serious illness? Don't make me laugh. And yet, that is where I found myself. My choice was reduced, then, not to whether I'd be a caregiver, but more what kind of caregiver I'd be. - Robert Martin The Beatitudes from Christ's Sermon on the Mount are more than beautiful, even puzzling words. They can be your anchor when the waves roll and the winds howl.