Sunday, August 29, 2010

Gleaming Jewels

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When I 1st started
regularly visiting
the Nursing Home
early last year,
conventional thought
egged me on:
"Many of these Folks
are short timers.
Don't get too close.
You'll just lose them
and you'll be sad."
In these 20 months,
I have found
many unexpected Treasures:
Residents, Staff,
Family and Friends of Residents.
I have witnessed
Wisdom,
Humor,
Gratitude for any Kindness,
Tension,
Angst.
I have watched
Life wax and wane.
Some have passed
after what seemed like
an all too brief connection.
Margaret
(who grew up with Dad),
Judith
(who made her room into a little apartment
and sewed up a storm),
Merna
(who passed at 100 and then some,
whose thinking was fuzzy
but radiant inner beauty was not),
Byrdethel
(who knew my beloved Great Aunt Lu),
Waverly
(who would ask of us as we came bearing treasures to share:
"Now what do you have for us today?").
Some of whom I did not even know their Names.
Yes, I have been sad at their loss.
But, more than anything,
my Life is enriched
by such beautiful associations
and at such
a Sacred Passage Place
of Life.
We are all going
through that same gateway.
They just happen to be going before.
I cannot even imagine how impoverished
my Life would be without these Gleaming Jewels along the Path.
~~~~
Glinda Crawford, 2010
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