Nowhere is God's grace more evident
than when a Hospice Angel walks through the door.
When Tom's daughters had a heart-to-heart talk with him last April, he was the epitome of a man at the end of his rope. Five months of caring for his wife, Jenny, had kept him awake most nights. Occasionally he catnapped in the afternoons, but it was never a good rest. The love of his life was dying; his own discomfort could not compare with hers.
Daughters Susan and Carol gazed lovingly at their father, a man whose looks normally belied his definitive age. Months of worry, chemo, and hope had stolen his vitality and lined his face with the weight of concern.
"It's time, Dad," Susan said placing her arms around him.
"Time?" His puzzled face expressed an inability to think beyond the moment.
"We're worried about you," Carol said, following her sister's lead. "Mom's many needs these days are too much for you to handle alone and you need help. It's time for Hospice."
Tears pooled in Tom's eyes. "They are just as blue as a robin's egg," Jenny told him on their first date.
"Hospice," he said, "is for later, when there's no hope, no reason to..." his voice trailed off as tears slid down his sad, sad face. "She's my wife, my life."
In his heart, Tom knew he couldn't do everything for his wife, but Hospice? Jenny might think he had given up on her.
After his daughters explained how Hospice could insure Jenny's ultimate comfort and care, Tom was better able to come to terms with that which he had not wanted to face. With the help of Jenny's oncologist, the family reached out to the local Hospice workers.
The children and Tom were there the day Linda came into their lives. She wore no wings, no long flowing gown, no halo. In fact, she was dressed in a cheerful pair of yellow pants topped with a bright blue smock. But she wore a sensitive smile on her face that completely overshadowed the intensity of her clothes.
Tom greeted her with a responding smile. "Come in, Linda, and meet my beautiful Jenny," he said.
Jenny grinned at her new caregiver and said, "Your blouse is the exact color of Tom's eyes." At that moment, Jenny and Linda bonded. Jenny was assured that, no matter what, she would be cared for with love, compassion and excellence.
During the time that Linda was with Jenny, she did so much more than was expected of a Hospice nurse. True, she met all of the patient's needs, but beyond that, she sipped coffee with Tom and his daughters and listened to them tell the story of Jenny's life—the third-grade students Jenny had taught who kept in touch even after they were grown, the tennis trophies won four seasons in a row, the prize roses Jenny had grafted and named after her two daughters. There was so much to recount.
Linda laughed out loud when told about the Halloween Jenny dressed up as the Jolly Green Giant, slathering green food coloring mixed with cold cream all over her body.
"She scrubbed and scrubbed" Carol said, tears of laughter streaming down her face, "but no way could she get it all off. She had to go to school the next day looking more like a hungover leprechaun than a jolly green giant."
When the time came for Jenny to leave this life, her family were all there: Tom, Susan, Carol, and also Linda, who had become so close to them all. They circled around her bed while Jenny gazed deeply into the robin's egg blue eyes of the love of her life before she swept the room for a goodbye look at her two devoted daughters.
When at last her eyes came to rest on Linda, Jenny smiled, not one bit surprised to find that Linda's always vibrant clothes had been exchanged for a long, flowing pale blue gown, a shimmering halo and a perfect pair of angel wings.
*****
Jenny's story is repeated every day due to the gathering of Hospice Angels caring for our families and friends. It is so important, even in these economically stressful times, for each of us to support these wonderful people who are devoted to helping others in need.
