My Supports
To me the word support means assisting someone who needs help in whatever way that may be.  In my daily life, my supports include my mom, children, and colleagues.  My mom and children are always available by phone anytime to talk to and get an objective opinion about something.  We share information about what is happening in our lives because we all live in different cities and don't see each other very often.  Working with my colleagues, daily interaction gives us opportunities to problem-solve together, share issues, both personal and professional, and during our weekly teacher meeting, we have a chance to get together as a group and talk about issues we have accomplished and issues we will work on as a team.  Having these supports provides a feeling of being part of a group, knowing I don't have to face problems alone and that I have others to share good news with.  (My cat doesn't seem to care!)  If I didn't have these supports, life would be very lonely.  Even though I appreciate living alone, having no one to share with would be depressing.  I believe everyone needs at least one true relationship in their lives to keep them sane.  As I've written before, I don't have a lot of friends but the ones I do have are there when I need them.

The challenge I imagine is moving into a house.  I currently live in a second floor apartment but would like to own a home sometime soon. The supports I have now that would help me in this endeavor would be my children.  I have two grown sons so they could lift furniture.  My daughter and I would be able to pack and lift the lighter things (and give directions).  She and I would take care of cleaning the apartment after everything was moved out and paint and prepare the house for moving into.  Having my children help me would save me money by not having to hire a moving company and would make the job go a lot faster.  It would definitely provide memories for future discussions!  If I didn't have grown children to help me, I would have to pack and unpack on my own, hire someone to load and unload the truck, and experience moving into a home of my own by myself.  It would definitely take some of the joy away.  It's not bad to be single, except in cases like this.