On the day before her 88th birthday my mother fell at her assisted-living facility and suffered a concussion and multiple strokes.<\/p>\n
Thank God she survived. But her mental and physical abilities were severely limited.<\/p>\n
I flew from my home in Dallas to the facility in San Antonio to be with her. I knew I couldn\u2019t stay forever, but I wanted to. Mom had always been there for me.<\/p>\n
Can the staff here take good care of my mother now that she\u2019s so helpless?<\/em> I worried. I didn\u2019t want to leave without knowing Mom was in good hands.<\/p>\n I slept in the room with her for two days, and still my worries hadn\u2019t stopped. On the third morning, sitting in a chair by her bed, I began to pray.<\/p>\n Long ago my mother had taught me not to ask God for what I wanted, but to ask instead for his strength and guidance. \u201cWhere you lead me, I will follow,\u201d I prayed.<\/p>\n It made me think of that old hymn, \u201cWhere He Leads Me, I Will Follow.\u201d The tune got stuck in my head. \u201cWhere he leads me, I will follow…\u201d I began to hum out loud.<\/p>\n How\u2019d the rest of it go? Oh, yes: \u201cHe will give me grace and glory; he will give me grace and glory.\u201d Singing those words in my head comforted me. Grace and glory. I couldn\u2019t let my worries shake my faith. I would just have to trust that Mom would be okay, as hard as that was.<\/p>\n Just then, there was a knock on the door. Two nurse\u2019s aides walked in. \u201cWe\u2019re here to help your mother take a bath and get her ready for the day,\u201d one of them said.<\/p>\n They took my mother gently by the hand and helped her out of bed, making sure she got her footing before they led her to the bathroom. All the while, the aides talked to my mother like a person, not a patient. I was impressed by how professional and kind they were. How could I have not appreciated the staff here before?<\/p>\n When they were done with Mom, the aides turned to leave. \u201cWait a minute,\u201d I said. \u201cI just want to thank you two for taking such good care of my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re welcome,\u201d one of the aides said. \u201cIf your mom needs anything, we\u2019ll be here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m Gracie,\u201d the other aide said. \u201cAnd this is Gloria.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the day before her 88th birthday my mother fell at her assisted-living facility and suffered a concussion and multiple strokes. Thank God she survived. But her mental and physical abilities were severely limited. I flew from my home in Dallas to the facility in San Antonio to be with her. I knew I couldn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1089],"class_list":["post-21547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emotional-and-mental-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n