That Man o mine

I think the biggest compliment you can receive about your spouse as a caregiver from total strangers is that they think YOUR parent is your spouses parent.  I get asked this all of the time.  People want to know, "Is that your Dad or his?"  The fact that no one can tell speaks absolute volumes about the man I was God-blessed to marry; none other than Raymond Blakely.  Make no mistake, my Dad IS Raymonds dad and you couldn't tell him otherwise.  Their relationship was forged in fire (I kinda felt sorry for Raymond marrying a 'baby daughter' though. Lol) and the bond is forever.
When we talked about moving to Florida to retire, there was never any question that Dad would go with us for his second Florida retirement.  Every decision we've made after that has been with Dad's best interest in mind.  Has it been a strain at times? You betcha.  We go through quite a bit of effort to make sure we have couples only time while also making sure Dad never feels neglected.  Do we jump through lots of hoops to try to please everybody?  Yes and we never get it right all of the time (we've both had some sleepless nights about tough decisions).  This experience has stretched us and grown us in ways we could NEVER have anticipated--and we are still growing.  Ray Ray is my ground wire, my rock and Dad's champion.  This would not be the same journey were it not for my husband, our rockstar.  When you see me alone out in the community, doing Kingdom work, visiting family out of town or just enjoying some down time please know that is possible only because my husband is holding down the fort with style.  I write this love letter because I believe it is important to give honor where honor is due.  ThAnK YoU RAYMOND!!! I love you beyond words!!!!!

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 8, 2019 at 9:38 PM

    Wonderful And albeit appropriate tribute. I know first hand the challenges of being a caregiver and marvel at the patience Raymond shows even down to feeding Dad (not just your Dad but his (Dad). You can always get help from some people but the tenderness, and patience only comes where there is true love. Continued Blessings on your journey .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trippin With DadMarch 9, 2019 at 10:12 AM

      Thank you for noticing...which is sometimes all the caregiver needs. It is good to feel appreciated so I am grateful that you chose to comment. Thanks again and godspeed on your caregiving journey.

      Delete
  2. Brenda RussellMarch 8, 2019 at 11:58 PM

    It is truly a blessing that was God sent to have a husband that loves you and your family as he loves Christ. Absolutely makes a great difference in your journey. May God. continue to bless you on your wonderful journey. Brenda Russell

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trippin With DadMarch 9, 2019 at 10:13 AM

      Bless you Brenda. You know good husbands are hard to find and even harder one that sees your family as his family. I know you have that as well. We are two blessed women! Thanks again for your ongoing support!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Big Chop

Image
There comes a time in every womans life when she knows it's time for a change.  There's a subtle and discernible shift in the air around your brain where everything starts to look off.  My time came during our church fast in January.  Fasts are great times to confront LOTS of things, such as our cravings, our shortcomings and the dross that clutters up our lives.  Funny thing, my hair started feeling like part of the clutter.  On a hot day, there it was suffocating and clingy. While cleaning and cooking? There it was hanging all over the place.  Falling into my food while eating? All too common.  Then there were the constant comments and apparently hard to control urges to touch my hair by stranger after grabby stranger (without permission of course).  I started feeling like my hair could have hosted its own Facebook page and been waaaay more popular than me!  So my white roots started growing out but I had no particular plan in mind for the new growth.  Styling my hair with so
Read more

Me, Myself, and I

Image
I have been trying to take better care of myself lately and surprise, surprise, I've been succeeding.  I think it's one of those things where you take your eyes off the ball for a season and the ball balloons up from a tennis to a basketball! Lol.  Seriously though, I think some of us are better wired to effortlessly juggle multiple responsibilities;  I didn't get that wiring.  It's the ability we all seek in life but unfortunately strive too hard to achieve.  And striving tends to be futile and unbecoming.  As a caregiver I've found that it was all too easy to make excuses about taking good care of my temple.  I could recite Romans 12:1 easily and part of me wanted to be that acceptable sacrifice.  But another self-serving part of me wanted to wallow in the seemingly overwhelming desire to stuff my feelings of frustration and fear down with food.  I just couldn't seem to get 'it' ALL done?   I can remember recently sitting in the doctors office crying a
Read more

Should I stay or should I go?

Image
If we aren't killed as a result of a seemingly freak accident, how will we know when it's time to exit stage left?  For the saints of God I believe there will be a foreshadowing of the inevitable.  A brief time or a season when you get to have a presence in both realms.  One place was only ever your temporary home but it is the only home your flesh knows.  And the other home is the one your soul has been dreaming to return to but may feel a tad unsure about. For almost a year, my Dad has been dropping me lots of hints that he knows this world is getting stale for him.  He's been talking to his deceased brother (Tootsie) quite often and calling for his Mom at night.  Just like a good dad would, he has been preparing us for his time to fly away home by saying things like, "it won't be long now" and, "do you think I'll get to see my brother on the other side?"   At first I felt sorrow when he would want to talk about the next phase.  I'd typi
Read more