Community Activism

I was raised by a community activist. Mom was always and forever organizing some event or program or project. She was on the phone. She was talking to people in the grocery store. Always, always, always, she was active. Always working for change. Always holding public officials accountable. Always.

I remember being intensely jealous of her causes, and so refrained from being quite that active while rearing my child. The nest now empty, though, I sought ways to contribute positively to my community, and this blog was one of the ways I chose. Recently I started writing weekly about the items in the regional section of the Bee, Arden Carmichael. That was fun and stimulating for me, and I hoped it would stimulate others. It seemed to be starting to. Indeed, I believe there may be as many as 6 or 7 readers of this blog now. I was encouraged.

Life and time and circumstance play sneaky games. I find myself in a strange dance with destiny. While I want very much to contribute to my community in a variety of ways, my time and energy are pulled of necessity in a different direction. I am now a long-distance caregiver for the mother who would change the world. As Parkinson's erodes her body and her independence, my brother and I find ourselves spending long hours directing others in the care of the mother who, with typically fierce independence, checked herself into a retirement facility that would provide increasing levels of care through the rest of her life. We know she did this to spare us as much as possible from the presumed burden of caring for her, and that's a good and loving thing.

Still, she is our mom, and we care, and we're committed to making sure this phase of her life is as comfortable and satisfying as possible, and that means being involved. Interestingly, that means applying many of the skills that make an effective community activist to being an effective advocate for Mom.

Be advised that even the best facility is still just a facility and it cannot substitute for caring family members. At the very least, a facility is a safe place for your family member to fade away with minimal involvement from you. At the very best, a facility is a partner in providing the best possible care and support for your family member without you completely wearing yourself out by doing it all yourself.

Too, a facility doesn't take care of financial "stuff". That's where trusts and power of attorney come in, and oh what a dance that is. No matter how simple your attorney makes it sound, it's not simple. It just isn't. And if you and/or your loved one aren't swimming in money, it's a dance you do without the attorney's ongoing assistance.

All this is to say that the Arden Arcade Blog isn't exactly at the top of my priority list right now. Not even close. I do read the paper, and there is plenty I would dearly love to address here, but at least until the dance switches from the jitterbug to something a little slower, I'm not going to be around much.

I encourage others to write items for this blog. It's very simple for me to make you a contributing author. You just let me know you want to be one, I'll have Blogger send you the invitation to do so, and you follow the directions in the invitation. As long as your contributions are civilized I'll keep you on as an author. You don't have to agree with me about anything. You just have to be polite about disagreeing. That truly is the only requirement, apart from staying on topic.

The topic being Arden Arcade. In case that wasn't clear.