Kim Wyatt’s essay “Terroir” lets the reader into her world of caregiving. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
Caregiving is undoubtedly a difficult job. These super humans are always going to be needed. It’s life.
For some it is a chosen profession, for others not so much. For the latter, the job is often foisted upon these individuals without warning.
It’s often difficult. The one being cared for is not always grateful. After all, it seems to be human nature that we want to be self-sufficient, to not be a burden. Those being cared can be resentful and combative. The caregiver represents all they can no longer do for themselves.
When it’s the parent-child relationship the balance shifts, rolls are reversed and emotions become frayed.
The October 2018 issue of Michigan Quarterly Review is all about caregiving, with essays and poems by writers who have intimate knowledge with the subject. One essay is written by Lake Tahoe-based writer (and my friend) Kim Wyatt. It put me in tears. It’s not that I didn’t know what she has been going through. It’s that she is such an incredible storyteller. She transported me to this intimate corner of her life in a way our conversations had not done.
Wyatt’s essay alone is worth the expense of the entire publication.
Some of the works are essays, some poems. Not all are about the parent-child relationship. Like any compilation, some will move you, others you will move through quickly.
MQR’s caregiving issue is $10 and may be purchased online.
For more information about the publication, go online.
