Sunday Morning Musings-

by Jay's House of Blues

                     A moment of truth, reflection, and caregiving honesty.

I’ve heard people say, “I didn’t sign up for this,” when talking about caregiving — especially when it comes to caring for aging parents or family members whose needs changed over time. And I understand that feeling. Life can hit hard, and sometimes responsibility lands in our lap before we feel ready.

But there’s another side to this.

When it comes to caregiving — especially the kind that becomes your whole way of life — some of us did sign up for it. Maybe not in the literal sense, but in the deeper sense. In the paths we walked. In the soul-level agreements we may not remember making, but we feel in our bones.

When you become a parent to a child with lifelong needs…

When your life reshapes itself around care, advocacy, crisis, love, and exhaustion…

When you show up every single day, even when you don’t feel ready…

There’s a part of you that chose this long before you knew what it would require.

Not chosen out of obligation.

Not chosen out of guilt.

But chosen out of something deeper — purpose, resilience, connection, and a heart that was built for this even when your mind protests that you weren’t prepared.

Caregiving doesn’t always “find us.”

Sometimes we’re built for it in ways we only realize years later.

So when I hear “I didn’t sign up for this,” a part of me quietly thinks:

 Maybe you did. Maybe I did. Maybe we all did, in our own way — not because it’s easy, but because some parts of our soul were always meant to rise to this calling.

And if that’s true, then there’s power in embracing it. Not in a way that glamorizes struggle, but in a way that honors the strength it takes to show up every single day, for someone who depends on you more than words can say

If you’re not a caregiver now, just wait — you may be at some point in your life.

Or perhaps you’ll be on the receiving end of caregiving one day, because life eventually brings all of us full circle.

Life has a way of calling us into roles we never expected to play.

© 2025 Jay’s House of Blues  

Original content by Penny Lepley

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