My husband and I don't do a lot of redecorating... Each house we've lived in has gotten a lot of attention early on, but once we get things the way we like them... we're done. We don't rearrange the furniture, we rarely add new art, in fact - if we don't get things completed, they tend to get stuck waiting for a very long time. We are on to the next thing, and have forgotten about it, until we realize a year or two later that the shelving in the den is a haphazard mess...
With all that in mind, and acknowledging that we couldn't afford to remodel Katherine's suite over and over again - we needed to do this once. Really. Our goal was to design a space that our 14 year old could live in for the rest of her life - and the rest of mine.
Like it or not I am getting older. My body reminds me in a new way each day. So, while Katherine may still get bigger, I will become more frail. While we often have extra hands around to help, I am her primary caretaker.
Barry helped me by encouraging me to envision his mother trying to take care of his adult sister when we were designing the space. So I did. Taking care of Katherine now requires no lifting. There is a moment at the end of her current bathing cycle when we transfer to her chair when I do lift her now. Whenever she and I get too weak for that move, the lift will be right there and ready for us!
