grand theft bernie

As I was leaving the sawmill today one of the EVS guys asked me what happened to my Bernie bumper sticker. "You drive....that old Camry right? "  At that second I realized that I hadn't noticed it for awhile.  I found a stickerless bumper in the parking lot and was kind of amused that somebody would take the time to peel it off.  It's a collector's item, you know.  Anyway, maybe that's a sign that a new car is in my future.  One can always hope and pray for unicorns and rainbows.  Or even make your own!  

My friend and his family are on a vigil that is sacred and emotionally exhausting.  There are pregnant girls under stress and worn out mama'n'them.  I have looked squarely into the faces of so many dying people that I couldn't begin to estimate the souls that were passing over in the room where I was standing.  Nobody expects it.  Most are afraid of it.   Mama's last words to T were "don't leave me" and "don't let me hurt". 

There is a kinder and gentler way to pass on and sadly, for many it's not that way.  They die in hospitals doing diagnostics that show this that or the other resulting in referrals to their system.  They all work this way whether for profit or not.  The key word here is choice.  Most patients take what a doctor says as the gospel because well, they're a doctor.  Very few have the empathy and wisdom to say " do the next right thing."  Dr. A was one of those for my family.  Dr. C was another.  

Hospice is all about community...a coming together of people who care and want to ease the transition for entire families.  Elisabeth K Ross established a hospice for AIDS patients in Afton Virginia many years ago.  I've read probably every book she wrote.  I found it  an in the cosmos kind of thing when that is where my brother moved.  I'd have never heard of it except for EK.  And of course Earl Hamner over there on Walton's Mountain.  

I know, I think too much ~!