Exactly What It Takes

It's getting very close to the time that I leave for vacation.  I want to be able to take a mental and physical vacation away from home with no caregiving responsibilities. There are a lot of things that I am going to do in order to be able to spend a care-free time on vacation and be completely present and in the moment.

I made arrangements 6 months ago with family members to come and stay with my Mom while I go away.  And this week, I confirmed that we are still on track with the plans.  Since I will be gone for 12 days, I needed two relatives to come for part-time each.  I will leave tips and hints, directions on where the chocolate stash is kept and a regular daily schedule document for them to refer to.  I will also leave the addresses for Mom's therapy location and our church so that they can take her while I am away.

I am going to load 2 med cases to cover two weeks of time.  In addition to family members, I have also done as much as I can (barring no emergencies) to make sure that all of the regular CNA's are in place to work on the days when I am gone. 

I am doing a menu plan for the whole 12 days and cooking and freezing dinners for 5 - 7 nights.

I am leaving a stash of cash for emergency pizza or Chinese food. 

I have stocked up on all supplies for personal care and made sure that all medications are in the supply needed. 

And I have to pay the bills for the month before I go.  If I don't everything for the month will have a late fee attached to it.  And we can't have that!!

More than all of this, it has been most important to keep my Mom abreast of the happenings and to remind her of when I will be gone and who is coming to stay with her.  And the second most important thing is convincing myself that everything will be fine.  I have done enough.  I have nothing to worry about.  The people at the house have got the helm.  I will be off duty with no worries.

It seems like a lot to be able to walk out of the house and have no worries.  But I really want that feeling of having no worries and I will go to great lengths in order to make that feeling happen because I need it and because I deserve it.  And it has been more than 10 years since I have had this opportunity.  There is no such thing as just taking off on a whim anymore.  Those days are long gone for a good, long while.  This trip is the closest I have come since 2005.  And this one sure wasn't just a whim.  It has taken, motivation, belief, planning, strategy and lots of help from many different people. And it is about to become reality.  I am so so ready!!!

So, I have a lot left to do.  But I am highly motivated to get stuff done and take the break that I deserve.  I will take lots of pictures to share with everyone. Ciao for now!