Law Office of JL

On June 8, 2012, a hit and run driver struck and killed Lexi, a service dog owned by Debbie Schultz.  Thankfully, the alleged driver has been caught.  Debbie is also facing medical issues, but most of all, she has to face the loss of her beloved service dog.  Debbie’s husband bought Lexi for her and then her husband passed away shortly thereafter.  Lexi came to mean the world to Debbie.

Debbie’s sister, Kathy (who owns “Poppin’ on Broadway” in downtown Waukesha) is hosting a benefit at the Montecito Ristorante in downtown Waukesha on JULY 15, 2012 (Sunday) from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m.  Service dogs are welcome!  The address of the restaurant is:  257 W. Broadway in downtown Waukesha.  If you cannot attend, but would like to donate to “The ‘Lexi’ Legacy” Benefit Fund, please send your donation to:  Waukesha State Bank, 151 E. St. Paul Avenue, PO Box 648, Waukesha, WI  53187-0648.

As Kathy says, “Lexi is a hero!”  Please donate to help Debbie with her great loss and to honor Lexi’s memory!

Even though I do not know Debbie personally, I do know why it is important to support her during this difficult time.  My late uncle Roy had a seeing eye dog named “Eli.”  My Uncle Roy received Eli after serving during the Viet Nam war and suffering blindness.  Eli was a huge, beautiful German Shepherd.  Eli meant the world to Uncle Roy, and we all knew it and loved Eli for giving Uncle Roy his life back.  I specifically remember a Christmas family gathering where my young cousins were climbing all over Eli, even opening his huge, imposing jaws to look at Eli’s teeth.  Eli just laid there, patiently tolerating this type of attention.  After Eli died, my uncle was devastated.  We all supported him, but I don’t think any of us really knew how much more support he needed than we gave.  At that time, I do not think that any of us realized the extent of his devastation because Uncle Roy was quiet, a strong and proud military man who did not let his pain show.  As time passed following Eli’s death, my Uncle Roy became more and more reclusive.  He passed away last year after becoming a recluse, rejecting family love and support.  We all loved Uncle Roy, and we all believe that the death of Eli started his decline.  The lesson to be learned is that there is no time better than right now to support Debbie – let her know that we understand what Lexi meant to her, what Lexi truly gave to her, and that we support her during this difficult time.

If you have read some of my posts, you may have figured out that I am a small town farm girl, having grown up among cornfields and farms, surrounded by animals.  When I went away to college, a friend of mine told me about her friends, Cynthia and Jim, who owned a farm near my new college town.  When I arrived at college, I looked up Cynthia and introduced myself.  We became fast friends!  I spent a great deal of time on Cynthia’s farm during my college years.  I rode her big mare all over the countryside.  I made Cynthia and her friends laugh hysterically when they took me to the county racetrack and put me on a racehorse.  I was supposed to circle the racetrack once and stop, but the horse grabbed the bit in its mouth and got away from me.  He kept going … and going … and going … until he tired (I was tired pretty much after the first revolution).  We also visited flea markets, a popular lake, and we explored restaurants.  Cynthia paid me to clean her house so that as a poor college student, I had some spending money.  These were really good times and I remember them fondly!

I called Cynthia a few weeks ago.  She has since divorced and moved to Wyoming.  Unfortunately, she is feeling the effects of severe arthritis.  We had a wonderful talk!  After we hung up, I looked through my photographs and picked out a few pictures I thought she would enjoy because it has been decades since we have seen each other.  I sent her the pictures and a long letter.  She called me after receiving the pictures and the letter.  Her closest friend had died a couple of days before she received the pictures (but after our phone call).  Cynthia said that she felt very alone after her friend died, and that my letter and the photos meant a great deal to her.

Touch base with an old friend!  It will make you smile and warm up an old friend’s heart!  Let me know how it goes!

I had an interesting response to my post dated February 4, 2012, regarding Family Caregiver Agreements (see below).  The response to my post stated as follows:

“A caregiving contract?  That is absurd.  A child should take care of there [sic] parents no matter what and never be paid to do so.  A child should do all that out of the kindness of their heart and not expect money….”

I wholeheartedly agree that children should take care of their parents and/or help the parents make appropriate arrangements for the best possible care out there!  However, here is just one example of a typical client’s situation that DOES warrant a paid caregiver contract, notwithstanding the love and care between the parent and child – the case below describes a mother and a daughter/caregiver:

Daughter is unemployed.  She is taking care of her mother.  She needs income badly and has a hard time meeting her expenses and her debts are increasing.  Due to the amount of time she spends caring for her mother, she not only has an extremely difficult time searching for a job, but she has no idea how she would realistically work at a job due to all of the hours she devotes to her mother and her mother’s care needs.  Mother cannot afford home health care or adult day care and relies on her daughter.  Mother is the widow of a veteran.  By arranging a paid caregiver contract between mother and daughter, mother qualified for VA pension benefits (aid & attendance) and daughter now has income to pay her bills and not go deeper into debt.  Daughter feels a tremendous sense of relief.  Mother now has added income from the VA to help pay for care, and her daughter/caregiver is less stressed.

To the person who made the comment, thank you for reading my post, and I hope you come back and see my reply!