The Treehouse, a blessing in disguise.

OK you’ve heard the backstory on where the idea of the treehouse came from, why the bathroom was put in and now you’re going to hear how it turned to be a complete blessing in disguise.

My father has a few different forms of terminal cancer, multiple myeloma as well as melanoma. He has fought like crazy, but as his cancer treatments were ongoing, he really wasn’t in a state to live on his own. He has stayed with us in the past for a few years during the winter. However, the space that we had available to him was no longer an option and living in our upstairs game room on a pull-out couch and sharing a bathroom with my 16 year old daughter had also become a trying situation.

That’s where the blessing of the treehouse helped both him and us. Now in order for it to be more of a bedroom and full time living quarters for him we had to do a few tweaks. I resold the small sofa for what we paid for it on Nextdoor and then with that money I purchased a daybed with a twin mattress where it could act like a sofa, but it really was a twin bed. I brought a dresser, a small IKEA desk, a microwave to go on top of the mini fridge, as well as I purchased older peoples favorite thing, a big comfy leather Lazy Boy reclining chair.

The treehouse was equipped with everything my father needed. A place for him to sit while looking at the computer, a bed, the lounger chair he watched TV in most of the day, a small fridge and microwave, a bottle water dispenser and the bathroom right outside the door.

Not only did this provide a little bit of space for my father, it gave us a bit of space from his very loud playing television as well. While the treehouse is down in the yard which provided some separation, it also brought the close proximity for us to visit with him many times a day and have the kids interact with him, bring him food, and just have that daily interaction with him that was good for all of us.

Being that we were in Covid times, this also was a blessing as when Covid was brought to our home my father was far enough away that we didn’t need to worry about infecting him. This also helped when my father had Covid and I was able to drop him off his food and his medication’s to his door without worry that I too was going to contract Covid.

My father was able to live with us from October to May comfortably in the treehouse. It was funny when I would tell people they could "absolutely come and visit my father, he’s in the treehouse" their reaction was "do we have to climb a ladder?" I have to explain that we call it the treehouse because that was it original intent and it is among the trees, however, there is no ladder needed.

It worked out as a huge blessing to have the space for my father. He was able to walk around the yard and see our animals as well as watch the kids play with their friends on the trampoline and interact with us. Had we not had him come and stay in the treehouse, this wouldn’t have been possible. Having the bathroom there also was wonderful as it included a shower that had space to fit his walker that also served as a chair. He was able to sit while he showered, and I didn’t have to worry that he was going to fall down.

Having aging parents that are sick is a really hard thing to go through. Having them around you all the time while trying to run your own family brings on additional stress. It’s not easy. Not only is it sad, but it’s also aggravating at times because as much as you want to be nice, when you’re constantly needing to do everything for someone that can’t do much on their own it does get hard. I am so grateful that we had the space for my father to stay while he could with us. It really was a blessing in disguise that that treehouse was here. I have with certainly been there as a caretaker, and I certainly know the struggle is real.

Xo,

Mama