Hi, everyone. Welcome to Thanks for being here, a short weekly pod to remind us of the many

essential and beautiful ways we affect one another. Every Sunday, I'll read a submission from a

listener of Kelly Corrigan Wonders. Could be wedding vows or a bat mitzvah toast, a eulogy, or

retirement speech. We believe this is probably the loveliest way to tap into our better

selves and remember our highest values. We encourage you to share this podcast each week with one

person you love, maybe someone you miss and need to bring closer, someone you want to feel

your appreciation or admiration or both. This is thanks for being here.

This week's thanks for being here is from a listener named Beth Mason. This is a love note to my sister Susan to be shared with anyone out there that is the sibling living closest to home and therefore the default caregiver to aging parents.

My father, Bob, has been living with Parkinson's disease for over 25 years.

He is nearing the end of his life, homebound, bedridden, and aside from my

mom, mostly in the company of strangers, every day. Susan has been the recipient of all his best

qualities, smart as hell, grounded, and wickedly funny. He also gifted her his predisposition to

Parkinson's disease.

She was diagnosed at age 50.

She's not had the time to wallow in her diagnosis, however.

It's not her nature anyway.

Because as the sibling living closest to mom and dad,

she has become the go-to caregiver in times of need.

Something that seems to be rushing toward a full-time job at the moment.

She is the pill-sorter, the grocery getter, the sit in the emergency room all night, gal,

the neurology note-taker, and default hostess to every holiday from now on.

She does this with grace while holding down an important full-time job and being a loving mother to her two young adult children and wife to her husband and two rather needy rescue

...