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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