You are not alone...

It happens more often than not…

“He’s been talking to people,” she said to me as we sat in her living room. She was the wife of  a Hospice patient.

Because I’ve heard it so often before, I was pretty sure what she was going to say next. “Who’s he been talking to?” I asked

“He’s talking to his momma, his daddy, and to his brother,” she said then added, “and to a little girl. I don’t know who the little girl might be. His momma and daddy have been gone for years and his brother died last year.”

“What do you make of that?” I asked.

“I think they’ve come to welcome him to whatever’s next,” she concluded.

Perhaps you’ve heard it, too. It’s so common that those of us who are closely connected with Hospice are just not surprised by it when we hear it, again. It’s often part of a person’s transitioning --- visitors from the other side.

 “What do you make of that?” was my question to her.

 What I make of it is this, “We’re not alone.” When I walk into a patient’s room to offer the emotional and spiritual care I'm trained to provide, I'm not alone. Others, unseen and unheard by me, are present, caring for the patient, too.

I make of it that you and I are members of a large network of caregivers --- by no means the least important, but by no means the most important, either.

I make of it that though you and I may see no one else, we’re not alone.