C Connecting with you is difficult and painful because you no longer
recognize me.
A Able to match pieces of the past to the present to help us understand.
R Realizing that none of this is your fault or in your control.
E Embracing those seconds when I look into your eyes and we connect.
G Guilt, yours and mine, over choices made or opportunities missed.
I Involuntarily, without choice, being dragged along in this rough ride yet
V Victories, small and large, are celebrated and keep me moving forward.
E Ever marching on, whether or not I will it, life keeps going on.
R Remembering who you always have been to me.
Participants of a “Writing for Recovery” writing group in Ashland, Ohio
Susan Becker, Deborah Brookshire, Derrick Coffman, Cindy Swanger, Rebecca Thompson, and Diana Spore.
As a writing exercise, Writing Group Participants worked collaboratively on poems that focused on caregiving. They were asked to think and write from two different perspectives: Caregiver and Care-Recipient.
Further reproduction is by written permission only.
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