As a hospice volunteer, I provide respite care for family members when they need a break.

I was supporting a woman experiencing advanced dementia without verbal communication.

Because hearing is one of the last senses to go, on my first visit I experimented with reading human interest stories from the news. Next, I tried playing the song, You Are My Sunshine, and her hand started to keep time.

Her husband was overcome with emotion and grateful for any response. It had been a very long time since he had seen any response from his wife. Next, I played Christmas music from the 60’s & 70’s (Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin) and brought a poinsettia so she would know it was Christmas time. I said to her husband, “I don’t know if Linda will make it to Christmas, but I do know that Christmas will make it to Linda.”

She passed away 2 days later, surrounded by her loving family.

On another occasion, I made a visit to a woman who was bedridden and apparently unconscious.

While sitting with this woman, I noticed she had the most misshapen feet I have yet to come across. The balls of her feet jutted out from calluses. Her toes were squashed together from years of wearing ill fitting shoes. This was a hard-working woman who spent hours on her feet for years on end. Her hands were rough too, so I decided to lavish her with lotion, like an anointing.

I warmed some lotion in my hands asking for Light and started on her feet. I was so focused on my labors that when I looked up, I saw that her eyes were open and staring with awe and wonder. I finished with her hands and moved a step away. But her gaze did not leave my spot. She was not looking at me but something else that I could not perceive. She raised her right arm to reach out to her vision. I like to think that she was seeing a Light Being.

Her daughter returned at about that time. When she entered the room, she could tell that something was happening with her mom. She saw the lotion and deduced that I had used the lotion on her mom’s hands & feet.

It was then that her mom closed her eyes in a restful repose. She died a few hours later with her family at her bedside.

It is my blessing to serve in this way.