Love is Renewable.

Yesterday I had this beautiful visit with a patient and her adoring adult child who had been taking care for years and before that taking care of another ... also for years.

​This serial caregiver was exhausted, overwhelmed and moving toward burnout.

I got it...because I was it. She was on the tipping point into resentment from simply being willing. Our conversation eased her off the ledge because her feelings were reasonable and common ... but they were new to her. They were troubling because love isn't suppose to feel that way but overwhelm always feels that way.

Love is up to the job...

Love is up to the job...it is renewable. After a nap or a good night's sleep...or a conversation with the infirmed loved one, like we had that day, we may open up again to the renewability of it all – to the deep well of sustainability that powers goodness in the world. 

Out of a gentle nudging from me, the patient started speaking about her life, her good man who had died, her milestones. She had a crack sense of humor and a light in her that surpassed her (almost) hundred years of wrinkles. 

Then she came up with this...and I share it with you today:
​

And she said,
"I've been lucky.
​I loved that which loved me back."

​From the mouth of lived wisdom: love renews us.  
If it's not renewable (on the whole)...it's something else.

May you be surprised by love that loves you back.
Happy Valentine's Day 2022.