Please bear with me. This is not as "off topic" as it sounds.
I've been a caregiver for a very long time now. (We're halfway through the 14th year.) Most of the time, I wonder how it can be so hard, since DH "isn't that bad yet". I feel like all the truly hard things are still ahead of me. But I'm worn down to the point I can barely put one foot in front of the other.
The other day, while stocking the pantry, I noticed that the shelves were starting to sag. I was surprised, because these are very heavy duty industrial shelves, rated to hold hundred of pounds per shelf, which our canned goods are nowhere close to. But then I thought--it's pressure...over time. Years and years of holding those canned goods. It's the same kind of relentless pressure that causes wind or water to wear down rock. The same relentless pressure that grinds caregivers down until they are a shadow of who they used to be.
I'm certainly not heavy-duty industrial shelving, but yes, I certainly am sagging. I think if I were shelving, the canned goods would be sliding off by now because of the slope!
Wow Jan K! That is a tremendous analogy! Me too although only (did I just say ONLY?) 7 years or so in. Gourdchipper I may try standing on my head today ROFLOL