Saying Goodbye to Caregiving

Jenifer Bradley, staff writer for Caregiver.com, has laid out helpful "What's next?" perspectives after your loved one passes from this world. She gives some self-care pointers as well as practical tips about necessary paperwork in her article, "Saying Goodbye to Caregiving." Our family found Bradley's scenarios to be true for us after my father died of Alzheimer's.

I might emphasize from our experience that it takes awhile to figure out "Who am I now?" Bradley aptly says that a caregiver's new independence will result in new priorities and new connections, and that these things will evolve over time. All is true. One's sense of purpose runs deep, however, and might be hard to pin down. Since my mother's needs now are different than my father's were, my caregiving purpose has changed. 

Saying goodbye to caregiving is an important process.