Cards and Letters Coming In...

I go by and visit my parents daily now.  I need to touch base and check in on them to help my sanity.  I think it might be a touchstone for my mother as well.  She knows that if she needs a break from being a full-time, live-in nurse - a 24-hour-a-day job done with love - that she can have a few minutes break and go out to the mailbox, or return some phone calls, uninterrupted, or any number of simple tasks.

Some days I think my visits are a touchstone for Daddy and he is glad to see me and then there are the days when he tells me I'm too bossy! (because I continually chastise him for removing the oxygen tubing or tell him to leave it alone to help his breathing)

One of the things which seem to make Daddy's days are the greeting cards that folks are sending.  They get cards from their neighbors' church friends.  They get cards from folks in the community.  They get cards from family members who live near and far.

Each afternoon Mom will bring in the mail and hand Daddy the cards and advertisements.  He sorts through them and slices open each envelope and reads each card.  Sometimes he recognizes the names of the sender and sometimes, of course, he doesn't even know the sender because it is sent by somebody he's never met.

Mom has been ultra-grateful for the warm thoughts each card brings and the joy it brings to Daddy every afternoon.  Just like the old wine-cooler commercial icons used to say, "Thank you for your support!"