My latest hospice patient was full of stories. Millie started telling me stories the minute I sat down beside her. She grew up on a farm with three sisters, so there were numerous tales of chores, animals, strict parents, and of course boyfriends. The boys would come calling on her sisters, not her. She watched as her sisters dated and eventually married, but she was always more comfortable on her own. “I was sure I’d be an old maid”, she admitted, “It’s what I thought I wanted”… and then she met him.
Andy had returned from a two-year enlistment in the Navy. Back home with his parents in Pennsylvania, he felt lost and didn’t know what to do with his life. His uncle was a farmer in Kansas who needed help with the harvest, so he moved west. Andy and Millie met when they each drove truck-loads of wheat to the grain elevators in the middle of a long, hot summer.
Millie is proof that there’s always space inside us reserved for someone else and a new way of thinking. She had to adjust her heart and her mind to make room for Andy and for the family they might have someday. “It just took a while”, she said, but once she figured out love had finally come calling on HER, she changed her thinking from “me” to “us”. The life journal I wrote for Millie will be shared with 3 children, 6 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great grandchildren.
A Poem for Millie
Once
she lived inside herself
closed off to the world of affection.
Then
there was a tug at her heart
and a sense of approaching vulnerability.
She felt herself being opened somehow
and she
never found her way back to being closed.
Photo Credit: Pinterest
Note: Names have been changed
See my other Hospice Stories Here
A dear and rich story.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for your appreciation of it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My pleasure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love this poem.
What beautiful work you do with Hospice patients!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so glad you like the poem, Jazz! I do enjoy my time with the hospice patients!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are doing wonderful job for them and for us readers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kind of you to say, thanks so much!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a sweet story.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you – she was a sweet lady!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a wonderful way to record such a rich life. Thank you for taking time to care.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love doing it. I “get” more than I “give”!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is brilliantly written! Beautiful!❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a lovely comment! Thank you so much!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a heart touching story and poem.
A hospice worker (the same one) visited both my parents in their final days while my siblings and I cared for them in their home. Her help and moral support was a godsend.
You are all angels.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you … how kind of you to say! I am constantly amazed at the compassion shown by those I am privileged to work with! We all receive much more than we give.
LikeLiked by 1 person