Cami Summers

2020 was a year that turned the world on its ear. The pandemic, social distancing, and shut downs, changed the so many of the ways we live, but for some of us, the chaos of 2020 was more than that.

It was the year that God blew up my world. A phone call from my husband, a for sale sign in our yard, and a move across state lines brought an end to the life we had known for 13 years. It was hard, because good-byes are hard, but in it, God was calling us to an unexpected blessing.

We left 2 semi-adult kids in Georgia, and took two teens to Tennessee to live with my in-laws. We moved into a house about half the size of the one we had known, and space was tight. We lived upstairs, while the grandparents lived below. We shared a common room with a love seat, chair, T.V. and 2 desks for the kids to do online school. My 15 year old daughter and my 13 year old son didn’t even have rooms with doors. The common room had 2 cubbies, each with a mattress and a small shelf for precious items, and 3 drawers for clothes. They shared a small closet, and we all shared a bathroom. Thankfully, my husband and I actually had a bedroom with a door!  Who would have thought that would have been a luxury? But I soon learned it was.

The house was so small, I could literally hear EVERYTHING that went on throughout. Standing in the kitchen, conversations could be heard upstairs. Thank goodness my in-laws had some hearing loss so at lease our closed bedroom door afforded some privacy, but for the most part, this was our new life.

I share all of the above so you can understand the context of the story that follows. When we moved in with my husband’s parents, we had no idea how much they needed us. My 80 year old father-in-law had a lung disease and was on oxygen. My mother-in-law had some dementia, but they seemed to be doing OK when we visited or talked to them or the other siblings. When we moved in, we discovered that things weren’t going as well as we had thought. Old age is an unforgiving adversary. It changes those you love in ways they can be blind to and so can you. And, I guess that’s really why I am writing our story. To tell you what I wish someone had told me.