Happy Valentine's Day 2020!

The sun finally came out today after a long absence.  It has been like gloom and doom for about the last six weeks.  Winter has finally showed its' ugly presence with snow and ice along with wind and single digit temperatures.  The countdown until spring is on and I have a feeling it is going to be late.  The seasons have shifted and the gray skies have left the mood here dismal.

January seemed to last forever and it was unkind to my husband and I.  We suffered through a bout of Norovirus that took the wind out of our sails.  As we grow older it gets a little harder to recover.  I have been hibernating and have been out only for groceries and one luncheon with friends.  The fear of getting another illness such as the flu haunts us.  The schools have closed a couple of times to try and slow the spread.  So much for our flu shots which seemed to be ineffective this year.

I was at the store today looking at flowers trying to imagine what summer feels like.  There were a lot people picking up Valentine gifts.  My gift is food for the soul.  It is always a pleasure to cook for my husband.  He enjoys the food and so do I.

This year has brought higher health insurance cost and medication prices still increasing.  I am hoping for the sake of all of us that the government will pass something to lower the cost.  My heart always aches when people can't afford their meds.

We attended a seminar last night about getting the most from social security and the new changes.  Overall consensus is high cost of healthcare and insurance if you retire before 65.  There are not many companies these days that will pay for insurance if you retire before 65.  We fall into that category.  Cobra is very expensive.  The advice to young people working is to plan not only for supplementing social security but start a fund for medical expenses if you want to retire early.  Hopefully by the time our children retire their will be a better system in place for affording healthcare.

I need to look at something beautiful to get through the rest of this gloomy weather.

                                                     Happy Valentines Day !!

Life is beautiful !!
Elizabeth :)

Caregiving and Finding Yourself

I have made the decision to move on with my blogging to a new blog called  https://underthesunnyskies.blogspot.com .  The decision came after much consideration that my life with Laney as my back drop has ended.  She will forever be in my heart.  The blog "My Four Legged Friend", will remain  on blogspot.

I hope the people will continue to read about the adventures I had with Laney.  She brought me through a difficult time in my life as a caregiver. She was the best companion and I miss her very much.  She helped me at the end of a difficult day after caring for someone by being there for me.  Pets love you unconditionally and make no judgment on you when you are emotionally and physically exhausted.  Laney was always by my side or in my lap letting me know that I was not alone.

The decision to keep writing is a part of me and I feel that my story and what I learned about being a caregiver can help others.  Under the sunny Skies  is about me finding myself and giving purpose to my life.  It will be my story about being a caregiver for my spouse and parent.

As we age and our parents age we are sometimes thrown into a role of caring for someone we love.  It is an emotional time in our life and can happen at times when we are also becoming an empty nester as our children grow up.  It can be very lonely  without help and support of others.  I hope I can reach out to someone out there that feels lost and perhaps I can give them hope.

Someone said something recently that has given me the courage to keep writing.  They said you are an expert about your caregiving because you lived the story.  You can relate to other caregivers.  I'm not an expert in the sense that I have studied caregiving for a loved one or that I have written a book about it.  However I can tell my story and the mistakes I made and hopefully people will find some peace in knowing that they are not alone.

Follow me won't you please to Under The Sunny Skies.

Loving you always and forever Laney!!

Life is beautiful !!!
Elizabeth:)