Time to turn the page to start a new chapter — with many thanks

This journey of caregiving for my parents, grieving through the losses of their health, and then experiencing their back-to-back deaths has exceeded any experience in my life — ever — both in the pain and the blessings realms.

I know I'm about to climb in earnest the mountain of grief that's waiting for me. I know I'm not alone. So many of you have been there already in your lives. I'm sure I'll write some about grief as I go.

But I see that it's about time for the current chapter in my life and on this blog to close ... although I'm sure what has become so much apart of me will continue to seep into the rest of my life experiences and writings.

I want to thank each and every person who has walked this journey with me. Your support, your love for my parents — it's simply been overwhelming. I think it might be months until I can completely sort out and put into its proper place in my brain the significance of it all. I'm more than touched, too, by how many people from my lost past have reached out to show me love. Thank you, thank you. You will never know how much that has meant to me.

While this chapter may be about over, I know I can reread it any time I want, even as I begin the new one.

Because here's the thing: You let me and helped me tell my parents' story. You let me honor them by sharing them with you. I know that if I learned a few things, then surely you must have, too.

"I strongly encourage each and every person with an aging loved one to get busy gathering stories and memories. Write them down. Scrapbook them. Photo album them. And share them. Share them with your loved ones if they're still living. Hand them down from generation to generation and let your loved one's legacies live on forever."

This has been the greatest comfort I have found in this entire process, especially as I watched so many older folks in the various institutions we experienced seem to just wither without love.

Caregiving, experiencing my parents' deaths, the reflections I've had upon my own life, especially during such an already personally life-altering time — all of these are parts of aging. I'm more than grateful to say that perhaps for the first time in my life, I experienced a difficult thing gracefully. Wow, guess we all gotta grow up some time. :-)

One thing I have grown used to and know I will miss — and I find this astounding — from the time I began this blog in early January until now, it's had over 30,000 page views. Holy Cow! That's because of my parents!

I can't imagine writing anything else that might capture such interest. (And, frankly, I'm not up for any more lost loved ones. For all I know, you're tired of that drama, too.)

<sigh> Oh, well.

I'll just continue to do what I love and what works so well for me therapeutically — write. You never know (knock on HOLY wood) what's around the corner.