Читать книгу This Is Not the Life I Ordered - Deborah Collins Stephens - Страница 30

Three months after the death of her husband, Deborah's mother was hospitalized, diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and placed in a nursing home. Several weeks later, her sister-in-law was diagnosed with leukemia and undertook a stem-cell transplant and more rounds of chemotherapy than she believed any person could survive. “My husband had died; my sister-in-law had died; and my mother was close to dying. My mind and body—but above all, my soul—were depleted.

“I recall Jackie and Jan describing grief as being on the beach while waves come crashing down upon you with little warning. Death changes everything. Well-meaning friends, even your own family members, want you to be ‘okay’ as fast as is humanly possible. Each time they look into your eyes, you bring home to them the reality of endings and it's often uncomfortable. Endings impact our children no matter how hard we try to protect them. I am blessed. My children are remarkably kind, healthy, and well-adjusted adults. Due to their life experiences, they carry a wisdom and resilience that most their ages do not. Aaron is a global product manager for a medical-device company. Lily is an account executive for a medical-device company and Mairi is a nurse. My children, my co-authors, a few close friends, and an extraordinary hospice team have helped me in countless ways.

“It is true what Ram Dass states: ‘We are all just walking each other home.’”