April 21

Greetings to all that read here.

Things are going well in Florida and I continue to love hospice work and feel fully blessed by it. I am missing Indiana at times - seems as though there is a flood of serious illness going on in the lives of friends and family. I hold Karen, Sue, Uncle Mel, Aunt Vera, my own Uncle Bobby and his family, Betz, her momma and many others in my thoughts and prayers.

I miss seeing dear friends at a shared meal. I miss "my" starbucks or as my friend Jon called it, "suebucks". I miss the Firefly chats and looking forward to the Bike the Drive in Chicago over Memorial Day. But, my new life is good!

I have talked alot with a patient that was a professor at Taylor University in the late 1950's! I have a patient now that is a Buddhist that is teaching me so much about the Eastern religions. Recently, a family told me that they were not spiritual - they believed in luck. And they explained how luck gave them comfort...until the luck ran out. And then, they told me a story of how they envision the patient going down a chute after death into the arms of loved ones. It seemed to me that wasn't about luck - but about something being bigger than they were. Call it what you want.

I always love being with patients that are non-responsive and something makes them respond. Today, and every day for the last 3, I have sat for 10 minutes or more with a non-responsive patient and said a Gaelic blessing to them. Deep peace of the running wave to you, deep peace of the flowing air to you, deep peace of the quiet earth to you, deep peace of the shining stars to you. Every time, her expression changes and she moves with the flow of the words. She hears. No doubt.

I am off of work for 3 days - yea! I love what I do and I love being off! And so I celebrate life and work and new beginnings and new thoughts and new friends and I will always be thankful for those that have touched my life and journey along with me. Happy Easter.