November brings the holidays, winter weather, and a new year quietly waiting in the distance. A time to remember the soldiers who died in our wars, those veterans who fought, and those currently serving to keep our country safe.

That’s how I was born into Caregiving. The only job I never had to apply for, never needed an interview or a resume. Experience not required. I became a Caregiver that day.

And with it comes opportunities for us to pause and take a look at how we are thriving, or is it just surviving? I understand there are days when all those little things, I call loose ends, seem to pile up and make a trainwreck of our best intentions for the day.

I never worried about hurricanes growing up in Ohio. Tornados sometimes. I Never worried about hurricanes living in Charlotte, North Carolina, that is until one came in the middle of the night in 1989. His name was Hugo, and he did major damage. No electric for two weeks, work and school closed for weeks while roads were cleared, and power restored. Hugo was a great teacher.

That's a big piece, Taking Care of Yourself. Instead of Pushing Through, (although there are sometimes we must do that) take a pause and think about how you would like to be taken care of in this moment? A kind word, A pat on the back, 20 minutes for a walk in nature, practicing your favorite meditation without interruption?

I am well past school age, yet I still feel the excitement as May comes to and end and the advent of summer awaits. Not so much the humidity, but the imprinted memory of my younger days when school let out from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Three whole months of freedom, playing outdoors until sunset. Catching lightening bugs. There was something so magical about having those three months of true freedom, so different than now as we didn't have a TV, computers, iPhone, iPads. We learned to entertain ourselves along with weekly chores.