Please let me be open and extremely honest before we leap into this podcast. I can only speak of this story by way of close association. I'm not presently a caretaker but I've spent most of my adult life watching my brother Teddy being taken care of and now I have two sisters accepting their roles in life on two different journey's with my mother with Dementia and my other brother with Parkinson's. This podcast begins with the story of how I took note of a tree leaning on another. Nature could've easily allowed the tree to fall to the forest floor but the other tree spent its entire growing life stretching its limbs outward to one day catch the now leaning tree. Instantly I was reminded of how my sister knew of her present calling years ago. She prepared for this moment not only with my Father but now with my Mother. In the story I ask "What if my sisters and other caretakers hadn't accepted the calling? What if the doctors that repaired my heart ten years ago chose to take a different direction while driving to work? What if the choice to being a caretaker is actually a choice?" Sure I feel guilty that I'm not 2,000 miles back home in Montana. Only to realize the caretakers need support makers. Being on call 24/7 to never be in judgement but mentally helpful and spiritually connected. Watching my sister and listening to her stories isn't what anybody outside of care taking expects. It's thankless! Yet the vision to provide comfort and security is compassionately unconditional. My sister lives in a world where few stop to visit. Therefore her only connection to the outside world is the internet or a phone call and it's not always the happiest of conversations. The support makers know this and must remain just as strong during life's decision to bring change. Caretakers are valuable to our everyday. When they don't feel blessed and or the sounds they pick up are only silence, where does their support begin to arrive? For most there's no Calvary. Just another day when you wonder why God put you in this place.