My Daily Supports

Daily Supports

            My emotional supports include my immediate family (husband and children), my co-workers and friends. My mother is only a phone call away when I need her. I also have a cousin and a few best friends that are also only a phone call or text message away.  I know that they are all there for me whenever I need it. It is a small but reliable circle.

          My practical supports include my calendar, my pay from work and from the VA, and my husband’s pay. If I do not put appointments etc. on my calendar, it often does not exist! I usually have so many things going on between work (I wear many hats), school, appointments, payments due, my daughter’s schoolwork and her activities that I have resorted to putting everything on my calendar. I don’t know what I would do without it. Pay is pretty self-explanatory. We all need it. Sometimes, we wish we had more and other times it is just enough. The struggle is real. I’m thankful for what we have and we make it work as a partnership. My husband is amazing and helps out around the house while I run around like a crazy person. He cooks and cleans while I work and do homework.  He also takes our youngest daughter to jiu-jitsu because I am still at work. Can’t wait for that to change next school year!

            I am not one who likes to ask for help, but when I do, I rely on my husband, my oldest daughter or my mother are my primary physical supports. The only other person near me that I would ever consider to ask for help is my co-teacher. We lovingly and jokingly call each other “work wife”. We are so much alike and we are often supporting each other equally. I feel like I am here to support others more than others are here to support me.

            The challenge I imagined was a major health issue either with myself or within my immediate family.  I know that my emotional supports: my family, my work family, and my friends near and far would all come to my aid if I needed it. I have seen all of them in action and come to the aid of others when needed. Whether it was to help cook dinner, run errands, raise money, or just emotional support, they all would be there for me and my family. They would become my emotional and physical supports. Like I mentioned in the beginning, it is a small circle but it is a strong reliable circle. It took years, love, and wisdom to build. I can’t imagine life without them nor do I want to. If this major health issue prevented me from working, I would lose part of my practical support (pay). I would still have some income coming in from the VA and from insurance.  I would still have my husband to help out financially and around the house. If it was my husband with the major health issue, we would have to rely on other means of income that we have set aside for this type of instance since he is the major contributor to the household.

            Thinking about this challenge has made me realize having daily supports is important. I do not know what I do without them. I also realized how much I need them. Without them, the impact would be great. I am hoping that when people read this that they also reflect on the importance of their daily supports and that they do not take it for granted. I know I surely won’t.