Dorothy Custer is the definition of gumption. Listen to her tell the story of how she met her husband, then at 2:10 she reveals the secret to long life (btw, it's the cutest thing ever).
When Larissa met Ian at college in 2005, she never dreamed she'd one day be his wife ... and his caretaker. After a tragic accident left Ian without the ability to speak, walk or care for himself, she did what any woman in love would do: she married him.
Don't assume no one cares. Instead, you can safely assume someone probably feels defeated and a bit like she's failing. You can assume she's overwhelmed. Frustrated. Hopeless to the point where she's considered burning the place down and starting over somewhere new. You can assume she's tired. Soooo dang tired.
"I carry the mental load for this family, I complete the invisible and thankless tasks. For me it's not just that one task, it's one less thing on my list, one less thing on my mind."
Someday, our windows won’t have tiny fingerprints covering every square inch of their glass. Someday, the trash won’t fill so quickly, and the fridge won’t empty so fast & dishwasher won’t need ran so often, and the hamper won’t always be overflowing.
She is tired. She is overwhelmed. She’s running this ship alone while you wait to be told what to do. She is hoping one day you don’t await her instructions, and you just do the thing that needs to be done.
Marie got me thinking beyond shelves and cupboards about what sparks joy in my own life, and reflecting on what I need to say good-bye to. We can all be honest and admit that there are things that take up valuable room in our hearts and block anything else from coming in.
People in the community started blaming his mess on me, because I was a woman. “Joy, you’re the woman of the house, you need to get in there and throw some stuff away. It’s gross.”
