The last 48 hours have been a fire hose of experiences. Strange Mom arrived on Tuesday and I have been struggling on the steep learning curve of care-giving. I’m quickly learning that 24 hour care-giving has very few similarities to providing medical treatment. There are medications to manage, but there are also basic needs to provide for and comfort to give. And these things have to be provided to someone who is dealing with their own emotional consequences of the changes they’re experiencing. I had a flash of a thought before Strange Mom arrived that it would be a bit like caring for an infant, but as Potnia Theron wrote in her own post, it is nothing at all like caring for an infant. I’m grateful to Potnia for articulating that so beautifully.

In the mean time, I have been checking Facebook much more frequently than I ever had. Reading about my brothers’ exploits and looking at pictures of my baby cousins. Someone tagged me in the sort of social media “challenge” that I would normally roll my eyes at, but somehow now feels timely. The challenge is to post seven black and white photos over seven days, without explanation. This experience has been so foreign for me, and so unexpected, that I thought I might use the opportunity to record what is happen. If only for my own reflections. I’ve been sharing them to Instagram, but I will also post them here for those who follow me here. The instructions of the “challenge” say to post to the photos without explanation. I named the photos, but I’d like to eventually write a little about how I was feeling when I took the pictures. I’ve posted three days of picture so far.

Day 1 – Anticipation

Day 2 – Respite

Day 3 – Fulfillment