My very handsome brother turns 70 tomorrow!!!
Ok…you all know me. I say I’m taking time off, then I can’t. This is my quietly meditation time before bed and I do that every day anyway. I might as well talk to you like I do every other day…as long as it’s not cutting into family time. We arrived to our destination in the mountains in the mid afternoon. It was too early to check into our VRBO. Daughter #1 had to go up to the college she attended to get something, so Mr. FixIt and I went to see my brother.
Yesterday was the day he was moved into his new digs. Like I told you the other day, he hasn’t been able to take as good care of himself in his more independent setting…especially since Covid began. At his level of care, the staff were there to encourage him to meet his hygiene and daily living goals. However, they were not there to do it for him. It has taken several months to get an opening in the step-up care setting and it finally happened yesterday.
When I arrived, I was appalled to find him the way I did. His hair was long and disheveled. His beard was dirty and unkempt. I asked him when was the last time he’d been to a barber and he said three months. Now, very likely the staff had encouraged him to go, but somehow he has it in his head that he only went once every three months when he lived in West Virginia, so he has probably been refusing them.
The very first thing I did, after greeting him of course, was to drive to Walgreens up the street and buy clippers. I came back, cleaned him up, washed and trimmed his beard and hair, and put him in a nice clean shirt. While I was terribly shocked and upset, I was thrilled to see my brother appear in front of me instead of someone who looked like a homeless person. The bottom line is…he’s in a section of this program with 24/7 staffing available to him in the four-duplex compound they’ve moved him to. He’s clean and groomed and happy. Today we will bring him to the VRBO we’ve rented and celebrate him all day! Barbecue and birthday cake and family from everywhere surrounding him with love.
When I saw him like that, it broke my heart. He holds a HUGE portion of real estate in my heart. I couldn’t help but feel that I’d somehow failed him…or our mom. She always wanted me to keep him in my home when she died. I told her that I would make sure he was always well cared for, but that there was a program near me that could give him a life and if it was God’s will he be accepted, that was where he would be.
He has always been very happy there and Colorado is his home. There may come a time when I need to bring him to West Virginia, but there’s a lot to work out with funding, etc. I’ll do the research when I get home. I think for now, we’ll watch closely and see that he has more one-on-one care at his new place before we cross that bridge.
The kids went to my daughter’s alma mater last night for the local football game. We are just a block from her high school and from the apartment I lived in before I bought my house a few miles from here.
Also, yesterday was Mr. Virgo’s birthday and today is 9/11.
It was an emotional day.
?
“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
1 Timothy 5:8 ESV