DO YOU SOMETIMES PUT YOURSELF LAST

Today's host for BlogFEST...click here for her post...Linda Schulman  She asks. "Do you sometimes put yourself last?"

And for more blogger's entries...click here for the BlogFEST page

Here are my thoughts...

Retirement has given me the chance to not be the bottom of my own priorities list. I have time for me and time to make me happy now.

I do, however, find that Momma is still a top priority for me because she needs me for basic things everyone should have. You know, like getting food and reaching things not made to be reached by height challenged people. She doesn't drive so I am the taxi service and I help her with cleaning things that are just too hard for her or out of her reach. She is not a demanding woman and seldom asks for anything so I have also had to learn to intuit most of her wants. She will ask for anything she really needs if I have no way of knowing of them.

Since she got sick last Friday, she has not really felt like doing much of anything. Each day getting less able than the day before. She does not like seeing the doctor, even though she does love our doctor, but she did agree to go this Friday and he diagnosed pneumonia in the early stages. He wrote her a Rx for antibiotics and cough syrup and told us what to expect in the coming weeks. Now, he didn't fix her on the spot, but he did relieve her mind and give her the tools to get well. It made a difference within the day. Today I went to clean for her and hang out with her and found her to be pain free, the wheezing is gone and all that remains is coughing, less violent and less frequent and the exhaustion. Now that she isn't looking at dust and wishing she could just get up and take care of it, I hope she can just relax and heal. She was in good spirits the whole time I was with her.  Today, I did put myself last and met her needs.

Sometimes the grandbabies are my priority because I want to spend time doing things with them. My kids might come first, if they want me or need me. My sister or my brother might need me and I will make them my priority. Roomy can be a priority from time to time. One of my nieces might be a priority, if I can help. If someone I care about needs me to do something which I am capable of doing, that will become my priority, temporarily.

Those things are all things I do because my priority in life is my family. My own happiness does in fact come from being there for them if I am needed or wanted. So in a round about way, it is still my priority and I am still my priority.

Doing what I want when I want is pretty much a daily thing for me. I can almost always do whatever makes me smile most days. It just happens that when it's doing something for someone else, that might just make me very happy also.

So sure, sometimes I do put myself last, but in the big picture, it's because that's where I choose to be.

Jo