What’s a little stress anyway?

We launched Mossy Paws on May 10th, nearly two months earlier than last season when COVID restrictions and big projects kept us occupied through the month of June. We sat at the Mackinaw City Marina for two nights until the winds laid down (and temperatures raised to low 50’s) and we could make the trip to Duncan Bay more comfortably.

Once we got the boat to Duncan Bay, I left my beloved Zola in Ron’s care and went home for a couple of weeks. For several months, we’ve been getting by with a care agency and daily check-ins for my elderly mother who was still in “independent living” but really needed the care available to her in assisted living. I realized, when coordinating her care for the couple of weeks I was gone in March, that there was no way she could have continued living where she was if I had been gone all winter. On my return in late March, as COVID restrictions began to ease at her retirement facility, we started the discussion of transitioning her to an assisted living apartment. A nice apartment was available in May, and we moved on it quickly.

In the past five years, our family has dealt with a lot. But I was unprepared for the stress I would feel moving my mom at this point in her life. I know that it was the right thing, I know that the move was overdue. But it was SO hard. I am so grateful to have siblings within a few hours drive of Grand Rapids. Their support meant everything. And to Barry, who dropped everything, putting his life on hold, and who stayed in the area until I was ready to sign off on my mother’s old apartment, I say, “I couldn’t have managed without you!” I told Ron on my return to the boat that I just wanted to curl up and sleep for two weeks. He has mostly obliged. And Zola’s joy at my return, her numerous rubs to my head, my little purrbox, have helped calm my overactive heart.