Sounds a bit like our Founding Fathers, doesn't it.
Today Joseph J. Mazzella shared the following in his weekly email.
A Moment of Clarity
It was a long drive to the nursing home where my Grandmother was living, but at least twice a
month I got into the car with my small children to make the trip to see her. We had already lost
my Mom to cancer and I wanted them to be able to remember Nana. I wanted to be able to
remember her as well, especially because she was beginning to forget me.
Nana had Alzheimer’s disease. It was slowly starting to eat away at her memories.
Sometimes she recognized us when we visited and sometimes she didn’t. Most of the time she
spent her days in bed, not wanting to be put in her wheelchair anymore to visit the living room or
dining room.
On one visit we did coax her out of her room and wheeled her around to visit the nurses and
go out into the garden. After I put her back to bed and kissed her good-bye, I started to walk my
kids back to the car when suddenly a tiny hand grabbed mine. “James!”, a happy voice said. I
turned and saw a smiling, wrinkled face with snow-white hair. Like my Nana she had
Alzheimer’s disease but was still able to walk and get around well. She had mistaken me for her
son before. A nurse told me that he had died years ago. I held her hands and let her joyfully go
on. Even though her eyes didn’t know who I was, I could see the sparkle in them when she
spoke to her son through me.
On the visits that followed I always made time to visit her as well as my Nana. I always got
a smile and sometimes even a hug from her. The nurses told me that she was always calmer and
happier after seeing her “Son”.
Then one day I noticed that she wasn’t there. I spoke to the nurses and they sadly told me
that she had died a few days before from a stroke. I put my head down and went quietly into my
Nana’s room.
Her loss didn’t really hit me until I had gotten the kids back home. When it did I decided to
go for a walk in the woods. I looked at the sky, wiped my wet eyes, and asked God to wrap her
in His loving arms for all eternity. Then in a moment of clarity, I realized something: for a while
I really had been her son. In this world, we are all family. In this world, we are all connected by
invisible strings of love. Even now many years later I thank God for letting me be there for her
in the last days of her life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know
how soon it will be too late.” Never pass up a moment to share your kindness and joy. Never
pass up a second to share your love. Take every opportunity to give your goodness to others and
to God. Live as if everyone in the world is your family. Because they are!
~ ~ ~
I responded:
Joe, As a nurse, I often became the daughter and felt it was a privilege to stand in for someone my patients
cared about.
But once, a long time ago, it was a total surprise. I was working through an agency and had never been there
before. One thin, gray and white-haired woman was near death so I checked on her as often as I could. Later
in the evening, I took some medication to her as she was very restless and possibly in pain.
She grabbed my hand and thanked me for coming as she pulled me down towards her. Then went on talking
to whoever she thought I was. As I sat beside her, I sensed there had been years of discord she was
apologizing for although her speech was disjointed and confusing. When she quieted I forgave her, hugged
and held her. I felt her relax.
I had so much to do but I stayed. Within a few minutes, she died peacefully in my arms. I, too, asked God to
enfold her with His love.
I knew nothing about her except her name. But I do know that all who come before us help to prepare the
way for us. I believe I was a conduit for the Lord to prepare her to meet Him. What a blessing!
I pray that the hurting people of today-in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, Las Vegas and in our own
neighborhoods- will feel God's presence through the goodness of others and the prayers
of many.
Connie
