The Life Challenges Podcast
Modern-day issues from a Biblical perspective.
The Life Challenges Podcast
Caring for Aging Parents: One Woman’s Path Through Dementia and Devotion
"He put me here to take care of them. This is what He wants me to do." These words capture the essence of Joann Gromowski's profound caregiving journey spanning nearly two decades as she cared for her father, aunt, and mother through various stages of illness and decline.
What does it truly mean to become a caregiver for aging parents? In this deeply moving conversation, Joann shares the raw realities of her experiences, from the practical challenges of managing dementia to the spiritual strength that sustained her through countless sleepless nights. Her story reveals how each caregiving situation demanded different approaches—her father with his heart condition, her aunt with multiple health issues including cancer and diabetes, and finally her mother with Alzheimer's.
The most illuminating insights come from Joann's hard-won wisdom about dementia care. Unlike children who build knowledge progressively, those with dementia lose capabilities in reverse. "You have to meet them where they're at and become part of their reality," she explains, rather than frustrating both yourself and your loved one by insisting on what used to be true. This profound shift in perspective transforms caregiving from a battle into an act of compassion.
Joann doesn't shy away from discussing the practical aspects either—the importance of having proper legal documents in place before they're needed, knowing where to find resources, and her number one regret: not asking for help sooner. For those currently navigating the caregiving journey or those who see it on their horizon, her advice serves as both comfort and practical guide.
Beyond the practical, this conversation explores how caregiving shapes us as people. Joann reflects on how God's purpose became clear through her service to family, even though she—a busy attorney with her own practice—was perhaps the least likely sibling to take on this role. The experience revealed strengths she didn't know she possessed and deepened her faith in profound ways.
What's your caregiving story? Whether you're currently supporting a loved one or preparing for that possibility, this episode offers both practical guidance and spiritual encouragement for one of life's most challenging yet meaningful journeys.
SHOW NOTES:
CLR’s website has a collection of articles on dementia and Alzheimer’s disease here: https://christianliferesources.com/medical-concerns/dementia-alzheimers-disease/
CLR also has a carefully curated Pro-Life 101 section on caregiving here: https://christianliferesources.com/caregiving/
Find strength and courage in your faith at this year’s FEARLESS FAITH Conference. Inspired by Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and courageous,” join us Saturday, September 13, at Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School in Jackson, Wisconsin, for presentations on navigating life’s storms, understanding God’s peace, and engaging in crucial conversations about euthanasia, anorexia, abortion, prenatal genetic testing, and more. Hear powerful journeys of faith through loss and hope. Don’t miss this empowering event! $50 in person or $40 virtual. Register now: https://christianliferesources.com/resources/events/2025-conference/
On today's episode put me here at this time. He put me here to take care of them. This is what he wants me to do. I probably would have ran in the other direction. I would have been like I am gone. You know I have other family members that could take care of this, but knowing that God trusted me to do it played a huge role.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Life Challenges podcast from Christian Life Resources. Welcome to the Life Challenges podcast from Christian Life Resources. People today face many opportunities and struggles when it comes to issues of life and death, marriage and family, health and science. We're here to bring a fresh biblical perspective to these issues, and more. Join us now for Life Challenges.
Speaker 3:Hi and welcome back. I'm Krista Potratz, and I'm here today with Pastor Bob Fleischman, and today we have a special guest with us. We have Joanne Gromowski with us. Welcome, joanne. Thank you for having me here today. Well, we have you on today to talk about the role of a caregiver and specifically, we're going to do an episode today on the role of caregiving as it pertains to parents, but really this topic can be used in a lot of different contexts too. Probably and we've touched on some of these as well caretaking for a disabled child and so on Do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself and your role as a caregiver?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I was a caregiver for both my mom and my dad not as long for my dad but longer for my mom. I also was a caregiver for my aunt, who is my mom's twin sister, so I had a lot of experience throughout the years. Each case was so different. My dad needed more help because he had a leaky heart valve, and so I had to start taking more of the role of mowing the lawn, doing some of the heavy work, doing the snow shoveling for him. Once in a while it was more taking the car keys away from him because he would have an episode while he was driving. So it was stepping into these different roles that I was not used to whatsoever.
Speaker 1:After he passed away, I took over for my aunt, and she was completely different because she had problems with diabetes, she had cancer, she couldn't walk, she couldn't see, she couldn't hear, and then dementia set in. So there was a lot of extra work with her, a lot of learning that I had to do. It kind of blindsided me, actually, the stuff that I could not even imagine because it changed from day to day. And then, probably five years after my aunt passed away, my mom started having Alzheimer's. She also had heart problems and diabetes. All of them were very strong-willed, so trying to get them to change their habits was very difficult. With my mom, she was the type of person that could never sit down. She never wanted anyone to help her. So trying to take things away, just little things like don't iron anymore, because you leave the ironing board on, you could start a fire. Don't cook Little things like that that was her whole life. It was very difficult trying to take things over from her.
Speaker 3:So when you were in this role as a caregiver then you said you took care of your dad and then your aunt and then your mom, so it was always just one person kind of at a time, and then your mom.
Speaker 1:So it was always just one person kind of at a time. Yes, always just one person at a time. So with my dad I always had my mom. With my aunt I had my mom, but then when it was just my mom, I needed that extra help. So I did enlist my daughter, who was old enough at the time, and two of my brothers also helped a lot with my mom.
Speaker 4:Did your aunt live with you or did you live with your aunt?
Speaker 1:Yes, all three of us lived together at one point or another my mom and dad at the same time, and then my aunt moved in after my dad passed away. So it was a lot easier that way than trying to go back and forth between houses and take care of two houses at once rather than just one house. Plus, I was also a single mom by the time my aunt needed help. I think it makes it easier when you live with the person.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you talked about some of the challenges you had with the I guess, strong-willed people that you were taking care of. I'm sure it's a family trait, though, so I'm sure you're also very strong-willed.
Speaker 4:No, I could vouch for that.
Speaker 3:But what were some of the other challenges that you experienced, or some of maybe the most challenging things that you didn't really think of before you started taking on this role?
Speaker 1:you didn't really think of before you started taking on this role. I think I didn't know much about dementia, on Alzheimer's, so that was a big challenge just seeing the personality traits change. And the biggest thing that I learned from my aunt was you're not going to change her opinion, you have to meet her where she's at. We talk about that a lot with New Beginnings, but you have to meet her where she's at and become part of her opinion. You have to meet her where she's at. We talk about that a lot with New Beginnings, but you have to meet her where she's at and become part of her reality.
Speaker 1:And I think that was a problem for my mom helping take care of hers, because my mom, being her twin sister, could not accept. You know, hey, you're always wrong. You're not seeing this the way it is when I was more like okay, so there's people in your bedroom right now and that's why you can't go to sleep. Okay, well, let's try sleeping out here in the chair, the recliner chair, and just whatever she wanted to tell me. I just listened like it was a nice story going on, but I wasn't going to tell her she's wrong. And I was lucky with her because she couldn't walk, being so strong will. She really wanted to leave, and I know that's a huge problem even in nursing homes, where individuals don't understand that they have something wrong and they just want to get up and leave and do what they want. So in some sense having some of the disabilities that my aunt had helped, because otherwise I would have been chasing her down the street Learning just to accept them where their reality was was a big one.
Speaker 3:And did you learn this stuff trial and error, or were you also trying to consume I don't know information on websites or books, or how were you gaining the information you got?
Speaker 1:With my aunt, I started reaching out to different organizations. So I would reach out to the diabetes, I'd reach out to cancer, I'd reach out to the dementia and I would see what kind of information that they had, what kind of groups that they had. I was also lucky because as part of my job I also handle elder law, so I got a lot of information just from my clients what was going on. Also, aging and disability organization with the government. They have a lot of information too that I was very impressed with because for me it was always okay I'm helping someone file a Medicaid application.
Speaker 1:I didn't realize how much information they had out there at the government level to help individuals, even if it's just local organizations that got together. Also, senior centers I started giving seminars at senior centers and I didn't realize how much information they and seeing how many organizations they have of meetings with Facebook they might have Zoom or just having people talk about the different issues that their families have. So that's kind of nice, even if you can't get out that, you can get this information in your house or have a meeting or just to get together. You know everyone's sitting around their computer drinking coffee, just talking to each other. So there's a ton of organizations out there now that's willing to help, no matter what type of disability that you have.
Speaker 4:When we get inquiries at the national office for CLR on somebody having to do elder care, the first thing we always send them to is their county department of aging, because that's usually a good place to start. We are here in Washington County, you're in Dodge, right?
Speaker 4:I'm in Dodge and I'm in Fond du Lac too, Okay, so I don't know what they're like, but the Washington County one is a very good one here in Wisconsin but I know it changes or it varies around the United States. But we always tell them to go there and to the senior center. Those are the two that, and usually you find somebody there who then gives you the tentacles to reach out into other. Because one of the problems that we get is usually the inquiry comes to us by phone call, which means they don't use email, they don't use the internet. Joanne and I have talked sometimes about in our work as an attorney with your clients and how some of them aren't on the Internet. That's kind of what they have to rely on.
Speaker 3:You mentioned being a single mom, and you mentioned a little bit about work and stuff too. So how does one balance all of that? Does one balance all of that? Your?
Speaker 1:own family, parenting kids and a job and taking care of someone, yeah. So I would say I'm lucky just because I do work for myself so I can make the hours that I need to make. And that was part of starting up my law firm again was I was taking over this role where I knew if I was working for a different employer it would not work. There was no way that they were giving me off all those hours that I would need and letting me kind of schedule things the way I needed it. So that part worked out very well. It was again great to have everyone in the same household. It also opened up the fact that I could schedule things to go ahead and be at every activity that my daughter had when she was younger and I want to say it's very difficult for other individuals that don't have that trying to balance everything With my mom though you know later on it was more taking her out for a walk in the wheelchair, you know, down the block or something like that. That helped me get out kind of clear my mind, where I knew she was just sitting there and I didn't have to go run here, run there If she was into something. I had to watch her. She was right there in front of me but I got to go take her for a walk down the street. So just trying to adjust little things and also making sure that the family is involved.
Speaker 1:With my mom, as I said, I had my brothers two of them and I had my daughter also helping. So we all kind of took time and if I knew I was having a bad day or I knew I had a lot of work going on, it was like the first thing I did was say I need help. And that's one of the things I regret with my aunt is not seeking out more help at the time, because, with her being up all night and trying to work during the day and take my daughter to school and everything else, I was exhausted. I just took cat naps all the time. I would purposely go pick my daughter up 10 minutes early so I could just sleep in the car for 10 minutes. That's that's how it was, you know, and I was doing work in the middle of night.
Speaker 1:So I think the biggest thing is making sure that you take care of yourself, finding time for yourself just to get your mind, your emotions, all that settled before taking care of someone else too, and counting on people I mean people that I didn't even think to even ask the neighbors would come over and cut the lawn for me, little things like that. It makes a huge difference. And I think also, if I didn't go out and ask my brothers, they were under that assumption that, oh, everything's okay when she asks, that's when she needs help. Where beginning, I was like why are they not just helping me? They should know this already and they don't.
Speaker 1:Again, I was lucky enough to have one of my brothers live with us for a couple months because he used to travel around the country and he was moving into a new place and he's like, oh, I need a place to stay for a while. I'm like, oh, you just upstairs. We got another room and I think that was it. He was like, wow, I did not know how tough it was or how much you had to do, so when he found out, he started talking to my other brother, saying, yeah, I think I need to move back to Wisconsin and just help, and I think that's it is just getting the family in there to help you right away or whatever you need. Asking for help sometimes is the hardest but, it is the best thing to do.
Speaker 3:That's such an interesting perspective too, that you have, having gone through it with maybe wishing okay, I should have asked for more help, and then going through it where you got more help and seeing the difference that that makes Because I think that would be true for a lot of people that you kind of would just sit there and be like why is no one helping me? And you maybe want to ask, but you maybe don't know how well it would be received either.
Speaker 4:Well, and then a lot of times people will offer to help and there are times when you don't need it and then they may misunderstand it as well. You know, she just wants to do her thing. You know, and I mean I get that a lot because I'm a tad on the OCD side and so a certain way I load the dishwasher, a certain way I clean the kitchen, a certain way I do the laundry, and so when people offer to help it's kind of like no, no, don't help me. I got this. But my mother of course mothers have the way of getting it best figured out and my mother just turned 87 and she's my number one helper in caring for Diane. Because my mom will always say you need me, just tell me and I'll drop everything, come over, and it helps that she lives next door. So that works. But it is important. But I think my problem was I sometimes telegraphed the signal that I don't want help.
Speaker 3:What would your advice be to somebody who maybe does need some help but doesn't know how to ask for it? Maybe knows that they need help, but maybe doesn't understand what help they need?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good question. For me it was trying to give up little things for people to do because I kept thinking, oh, I can handle it all, I don't need the help and stuff like that. And then when I realized it, that was it. I'm like, well, what do I need help doing? Okay, well, I just might need you to take them to a doctor's appointment, that's it. I can be on the phone with you while you're at the doctor so I can hear everything. But I just need that little bit. Or I just need an hour for me to just go out and walk or go shopping.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it's just the baby steps first, you know not I need 24-hour care.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it's just making little baby steps, you know, and seeing, yeah, I do need someone to cut the lawn because then I can do this, I don't have to worry about it. It's just that first step of just finding maybe the small things that someone can help you with and then kind of just letting it grow on there, because as time goes on, you're going to be spending so much more time doing the caretaking part that you probably will need help more and more of what you normally do, even as it gets to later on where I needed help lifting my mom up sometimes or just getting her into the shower and out and maybe it was my two brothers. After she had her last hip surgery they were like, yeah, she can't get into the bathtub, we cannot keep lifting her in and out of these chairs. We're coming in and we're redoing your whole bathroom for you. So I mean it kind of just grew, what do you need help with? And it would just be little things. And then it just kind of kept growing bigger and bigger.
Speaker 4:You became quite veteran by the time you were taking on your mom.
Speaker 1:I did, I mean.
Speaker 4:I met Joanne when you worked the caregiver for your mother.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 4:I met her once the first time you brought her in the car and I met her the one time there. But you and I talked a lot on the phone and you would talk about some of that. I mean, I always was impressed talking with you because you took it in stride. One of the problems that you have with your job, I would imagine, is it's hard to get somebody to help you at your job. You know, at least I have the advantage at CLR my staff pulls together for me. I mean there's kind of like a circle, an impenetrable circle around me that they try to make sure only the important calls, the very important calls, get through and stuff, and so that works very well. But you didn't have that, because I remember you would tell me that you always blocked out Friday. It was your day to you know offices closed on Friday, but then it never really was. So that's always the problem you have when you're by yourself, even in that position. But I was always impressed. You're always wonderfully calm.
Speaker 1:You know, that's one of the things. You've got to kind of stay calm, because you know that the person that you're taking care of, if they feel you're frazzled and stuff like that, they easily get frazzled, which makes your job even harder to take care of them you start to think, okay, I am getting frazzled, I just need to walk out in the back deck right now, just take a moment, take a breath and go. Okay, what's really important? Let's just focus on that and come back and look at a new strategy, because one of the things that you learned, at least with dementia, is that you're so used to like children who start building on their knowledge, and with dementia, it's the other way around. They're losing their knowledge so something that they knew how to do an hour ago. They now they're losing their knowledge so something that they knew how to do an hour ago, they now don't know how to do. And sometimes that just you're just like but you knew it, you knew this an hour ago, you know, we just talked about it and you got to realize that no, they're not like a little kid where every day, their knowledge is getting better. It's the opposite. So then you just accept that and you go okay, yep, just remember. They don't remember that. They don't remember how to do it. They're not doing it to get you mad or because they don't want to. It's truly that they just don't have that knowledge anymore. And every day was kind of that hurdle where you just go okay, what are they going to know, what are they not going to know? Even just little things like trying to get to the doctor's appointments.
Speaker 1:The time it took from the beginning was pretty short. You know, let's get dressed, let's get going. The time that at the end it was like I could start two hours in advance and I still might be five minutes late, when I might have left 15, 20 minutes earlier than what I normally do. I still could be five minutes late because of just what they could or could not do, or got to stop for the bathroom 10 times before you get to the doctor. Lots of different things. So, yeah, you just got to keep taking it as it is and accept it and say, okay, this is how it is, this is reality and just go with it. You can't say, but it was is how it is, this is reality and just go with it. You can't say, but it was like this yesterday. It was much better. No, this is what today gives you.
Speaker 4:In working with your clients, because I know you have a number of retired elder clients. What did you learn from them? I mean, did you oftentimes go to visit somebody and you can see, wow, that's really working? I'm going to have to try that, or that's a train wreck. I'm staying away from making that mistake.
Speaker 1:You know I did learn a lot. Sometimes it was just when I see the client's child argue with them and I'm like, hey, you know, I would just talk to them and say you need to just kind of step back and take it how it is. They're not trying to get you mad about this. But I did learn more from the parents themselves that just started to go through it, like little things that they would say you know, this is working for me. I know that I'm losing my memory and this is how I do things to help myself out. Maybe it was having a list, like a piece of paper, for them to write down things that they wanted to remember during the day. Or note this is where I keep my car keys. There'd be a board Okay, this is where I put my car keys last, or something like that. Not that you want to use car keys as an example. If they're that bad, you probably want to start taking the car keys away.
Speaker 1:But I think that was one of the most interesting things was just having this sheet of paper that they could write on questions that might go through the day, or they really wanted to watch this TV show. It kind of helped them organize it too. So I did use that with my mom, where she kept her own notebook and would write things down as the day went on. And my mom was very different too though A lot of people with dementia don't know that they're having it where my mom was always like my mind isn't working and I don't know why, so that's kind of the hardest thing to explain where other people they just they don't know that they have an issue. But that notebook, I think that was one of the lifesavers with my mom, so she could write it down and I never would have thought of that.
Speaker 4:How important Joanne was routine, doing everything the same.
Speaker 1:Not so much with my mom. When she got dementia more into it her attitude completely changed. Where she used to love routine I mean she was a housekeeper, homemaker for all of us kids and she went opposite. She was like I want to travel, I want to do this and that, and it was just like every day it was something different. My aunt routine was very important. For a long time we had to have chicken every single day because that was a routine. And then one day she decided she didn't like chicken. She never liked chicken, but hers was definitely morning. You got to get her up at this time. She has to watch these shows, she has to eat certain foods by her choice. So she was very much rigid routine. My mom not so much. She'd be like I want to stay up till two o'clock and watch TV and then the next day she's like I want to go to bed at 10. So just different. Each person was so different.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it really sounds like that, that there's so much difference there, and so what would your advice be to somebody who's going to take on, or maybe considering taking on, this role of caregiving?
Speaker 1:I would seek out a lot of advice, whatever disability they have. I would research that and contact organizations before you ever consider it. Talk to people that are doing caretaking. Talk to the doctors and nurses. Ask a lot of questions. Go talk to Aging and Disability or Health and Human Services. Talk to the Senior Center. I'd say get as much advice as possible before you decide. Yes, I know sometimes you don't have that time, you don't have the luxury to make that decision. But also make sure that you have people there already in place that are going to help you. Talk to your siblings or hire someone or neighbors, whatever it is. Make sure you have that group in place for you ahead of time and asking questions.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I recently have been telling my clients I should say the last few years is make sure that you have your legal documents in place, because once they no longer can sign for their powers of attorney for finance or healthcare or the HIPAA law, that just means that you're going to have to go to court and become the guardian and you don't want to have to go to court to make those decisions.
Speaker 1:So make sure they have everything in place ahead of time, especially the HIPAA one. Normally that falls in the healthcare power of attorney, but I've been telling people to get that separately, now only because maybe the healthcare power of attorney doesn't need to be activated, maybe they are still capacitated. But that HIPAA document if you sign a separate one that will allow the caretaker to talk to the doctors, get information, make appointments, all that stuff without having a health care power of attorney activated, because by law they don't have to do that, they don't have to talk to you. If there's a reaction to the medication, they don't have to talk to you about it because the healthcare hasn't been activated, but with the HIPAA they're allowed to. So that's one of the documents that I've added to my list that definitely should have separate than the healthcare power of attorney.
Speaker 4:Well, and that HIPAA thing, I mean it's amazing how many people think well, because you're a spouse, you know, and that isn't. You know. I should know. You know we have the Christian medical directive here, and yet when I had to take over more of Diane's care and I would ask them about something, they would go. We don't have anything here that shows, and you know, fortunately Diane can still make some decisions. So then we got that taken care of, but it caught me off guard and of course you grow to hate HIPAA, you know when you're trying to get something done, you know and you can't, but that's incredibly valuable, I think, to get that taken care of early on.
Speaker 3:What role has your faith played in caregiving?
Speaker 1:Huge. When I would go outside and I needed my moments, that was the one thing I'm doing. I was like, okay, god, give me some patience, direct me what I'm supposed to be doing. Where should I be going? What should I be saying?
Speaker 1:I was always talking, I think, without having faith in God, knowing that, hey, he put me here at this time. He put me here to take care of them. This is what he wants me to do. I probably would have ran in the other direction. I would have been like I am gone. I have other family members that could take care of this, but knowing that God trusted me to do it played a huge role. Knowing that, yep, he's right here with me through this whole thing. I have someone to talk to. He's answering me in different ways, but, yeah, I can't imagine people that don't have God in their life. What are they thinking? Who do they depend on? When I needed help, I was just like, okay, I need help, god, yeah, he would send a neighbor over to cut the grass. I was like, okay, so, yeah, having God is very important.
Speaker 4:How many years total were you a caregiver?
Speaker 1:With my dad. I want to say 2002 to 2005. My aunt was probably 2006 to 2014. My mom was around 2018 to 2024.
Speaker 4:Wow, that's a long time.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And they're all different.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, here's a question I don't think I've ever asked on the podcast before, but I mean, do you regret it at?
Speaker 1:all.
Speaker 3:No, and would you have done anything differently? I would have asked for help sooner.
Speaker 1:That would probably be my one big thing. I think with my aunt I probably would have took off a little bit more time for myself. I think you really appreciate things. I think I appreciated my family more. It brought our family together more, especially with my mom, so that was very nice. It also taught me a lot, so that I could teach my clients things and tell them there really wasn't anything other than asking for help more. There really wasn't anything other than asking for help more.
Speaker 4:When you were younger, joanne, did you see yourself as a caregiver someday? I mean, was it the kind of thing that?
Speaker 1:No, no, so if you look at my family, I have four brothers. One is a nurse and then I'm a lawyer. One did more like building houses, things like that. He had his own business. One worked at the post office and one fixes stuff for hospital machinery and stuff like that. So if you look at all five of us, the first person they would say is the nurse. The nurse would be the person right, that would be the brother. They would do it. He was the last one actually that could do this, and part of it was I don't think he could just do it for his parents, he could do it as a profession. But that was it. But everyone else would have said you as a lawyer would be the last person, even though I'm female lawyer would be the last person, even though I'm female. They would be like oh, you're too business orientated, you're working 60 hours a week. This is not your cup of tea kind of thing and I probably would have agreed with them. So for me to take over it was definitely different.
Speaker 3:What did you learn about yourself doing this?
Speaker 1:What did you learn about yourself doing this? That I could do it? I have gag reflexes when it comes to bodily fluids. I'm not going to tell you I had to get past that. Like that was probably the biggest thing where it was just like I can't do that. Like I cannot clean someone up, I can't give them a shot for their diabetes, like it was just all sorts of different things. I mean. That's why I didn't go to medical school. I can't do any of that. So that was the thing that I learned I actually could do it, I actually have patience, and just God gave me all that along the way, because I don't think I had it before I started.
Speaker 4:You learn what it means to be committed to someone, even when it's not always fun and I think people have to. You know it's sometimes hard. You know when I talk about like from a husband and wife relationship or a parental child relationship. You know we always talk about affection as being kind of a rewarding experience. You know I love you, you love me, I say please, you say thank you. So what happens with dementia or something like that, where you don't get the responses back or signs of affection, and then you find out that kind of more of the agape love, you know that my love for you is also one of commitment.
Speaker 4:It doesn't have to always be rewarding or fun, but in that process, at least for me, I think it made me a better person. I haven't met a caregiver that didn't seem better after the experience. They were all worn out for a while, but they were better. I mean better people.
Speaker 3:How was it? I mean the transition for yourself, like caregiving for so many years, to now not doing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So after my mom passed away, I was kind of just. I was like, wow, I have no one to take care of anymore. My daughter moved out, my mom passed away. I'm like, what do I do with myself? I think that was the first thing. It was just like, okay, now what do I do with myself? And of course God filled that in for me right away. But it is. It's kind of hard. I think the other part that's hard is, you know, I was so used to being able to have my mom there all those years, you know, and you want to come home and be like, hey, you know, this happened today. That happened today. And I'm like, well, I guess I'm telling the dog the story, because you know it's a huge change and I want to say like it was a weight off my shoulders or anything like that, because it really wasn't, but it was just a different change, a different season of life that I had to get used to. Now you don't think about it.
Speaker 3:The after part I think yeah, I can definitely see that, because when you're in it.
Speaker 4:It's probably so taxing at times that and consuming that you don't think about what it would be like without it. I've enjoyed the benefit of you being well-seasoned in all this, joanne, because on occasion I've had to cry on her shoulder about things I'm doing and she just would always say, oh yeah, I've been there, done that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you. It sounds like you have a wealth of knowledge on this topic and we really appreciate you sharing with us today about this. Oh thank you for having me and we thank all of our listeners for joining us, and if you have any questions on this topic or any others, you can reach us at lifechallengesus and we look forward to having you back next time. Thanks a lot, bye.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Life Challenges podcast from Christian Life Resources. Please consider subscribing to this podcast, giving us a review wherever you access it and sharing it with friends. We're sure you have questions on today's topic or other life issues. Our goal is to help you through these tough topics and we want you to know we're here to help. You can submit your questions, as well as comments or suggestions for future episodes, at lifechallengesus or email us at podcast at christianliferesourcescom. In addition to the podcasts, we include other valuable information at lifechallengesus, so be sure to check it out. For more about our parent organization, please visit christianliferesourcescom. May God give you wisdom, love, strength and peace in Christ for every life challenge.
