About
One person. Fully present.
My master’s in communication taught me all about intimate relationships: relationship dynamics, clear communication, conflict resolution, non-verbal cues. It was a degree that qualified me for everything and nothing simultaneously. I weaved my career around services to older adults: from working for a large non-profit serving seniors in Durham, a continuing care retirement community, home health agency, NC Division of Aging and Adult Services, to providing hand hygiene infection control education in nursing homes throughout North America. In 2014 I realized I'd worked almost all aspects of aging except direct care, so turned my ship in that direction. I discovered there is no more intimate relationship than caring for another. The three tiers of Sacred Caregiving grew out of the following experiences:
Companion & Respite Services
In 2024 I was privileged to move in with a client I had started with ten years earlier. I navigated hiring and supervising private respite relief staff and managing household affairs. Finding quality staff as caregiver resources dwindled was difficult. We had talked about this at the Division of Aging and Adult Services; how a caregiver crisis was coming. And indeed, it is here.The first year when I needed to take a week off to go care for my own mother, weaving together 24-hour caregiving was a challenge. I didn't want to use an agency and risk rotating staff, intake coordinators, or a no-show or inattentive companion. When the sons were no longer available to provide weekend respite, I struggled to find someone to come in two days a week. My desire to offer substitute caregiving grew out of this awareness of the difficulty of finding someone to fill in when needed.
Vigil & Transition Sitting
I had sat with my father through his end of life so was prepared when my client went through hers. After so many years of knowing it was coming -- and even the slow two-year progression -- it all seemed so fast. I lived it every step; we'd openly talked about that day and the process of dying leading up to it. It was all that and so much more. Not everyone is comfortable sitting by the side of a person transitioning -- and it's impossible to be there 100% of the time as that transition starts. The deep compassion and intimacy of holding witness and providing comfort felt natural to me.
Caregiving Travel Companion
My mother and I traveled the world together and I provided more support as she grew older. Whether it was arranging for a wheelchair at the airport (or pushing a wheelchair through the airport), coordinating our activities to match her energy level, carrying a travel chair as we explored the streets of Florence so she could sit and rest, or offering my forearm as we cliImbed up steps ... helping her was deeply satisfying. Her 90th birthday was a celebration with friends in Costa Rica, and two years later we celebrated my 60th birthday with my three siblings in Iceland. I witnessed how her love of traveling became increasingly difficult as she grew older, and knew it was the assistance of either me or my siblings that made some of those last trips possible.No one should miss the birth of their first grandchild, a graduation, reunion, visiting family or seeing a place they've always wanted to travel. I want to help make this possible for people who aren't comfortable traveling alone.
Serving the Research Triangle
My service area is primarily throughout Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and the surrounding Research Triangle area. Travel companion services extend statewide and beyond.
Now accepting select bookings starting Fall, 2026
If you're wondering whether this might be right for you or your family, reach out. Even just to ask a question.