Lifetime Supply

Yesterday I was blessed to care for a elderly woman whose daughter was keeping a bedside vigil. "My sister would be here too" she told me, "but she's with her daughter on a Make-A-Wish trip."

"Oh my. Is her little girl ill?"

Okay. That was a dumb question. But the woman was gracious. She told me that her sister worked at a facility for severely handicapped children. It was at work where she fell in love with her future adopted daughter, the one who was now declining and enjoying a longed-for Florida vacation.

"What a giving person your sister is," I said.

The woman nodded, then told me more about her extended family. Her nephew, who is also employed at the children's home, is the father to two children adopted from there. Not only that, several other close family members cared for adopted children. Others who are not employed routinely volunteer their time.

"Wow," I said. Then I looked over at her mom, asleep in the bed. "Your mother really instilled love and compassion in her family. She did an amazing job."

She teared up, then spoke. "My mother had a very hard life. Her marriage was extremely difficult. We children gave her way too much trouble. But through it all, she remained upbeat and positive. Always. Once I asked her how she kept it up, how she managed to never let her circumstances get her down."

"What was her answer?"

"She told me her parents loved her so very much that it was enough love to last a life time."

My eyes misted. They mist again as I compose this post. I can't get her words out of my mind. To be loved like that.

More, to be a person who loves like that.