I feel especially lucky to have gone to South Dakota last week, not only for the wonderful people and the good food, but because I was able to land myself a bonus epiphany. Let me explain. Usually when I travel, there is someone or some event that opens my eyes to a particular aspect of caregiving. It may be the six year old girl sitting next to me on the plane with the wisdom of the ages behind her eyes as she tells me all about visiting her granny, or the cabbie who has found as many shortcuts to navigating his city’s healthcare system as he did for navigating it’s streets. 

But usually, I am only privy to one such lesson per trip, so imagine my surprise when a bonus lesson popped up. I received an email from a young man who was at the South Dakota AgrAbility conference with his mom. He told me how much he enjoyed the event and how much he learned. I remembered him from the event. In his teens and in a wheelchair, his mom never seemed as if she was his caregiver, more like his partner in information gathering. We met in the hall after my speech and talked for a while, He said that he really appreciated the speech and especially liked the part when I spoke about finding wisdom from the caregivers around you when in events or waiting rooms. He went a step further and told me that he has never had a conversation with anyone where he did not learn something: doctor, fellow conference attendee or ice cream vendor, there was something to learn from everyone who ever crosses your path. 

He may not realize this but since that conversation I have been trying to follow his words and learn from every single encounter. And you know, what...it really works. There is truly a tremendous amount of wisdom in this world and it took me flying across the country to meet Ryan to really pay attention. 

We are looking forward to seeing you all at the Sharing Wisdom conference on April 25th, for anyone interested in the Certified Caregiver Coordinator training program, there are only two seats left. 

 

Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com