The Flowers Were Now Blooming

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I came into the hospice on a hot summer day.  I had found myself with a middle-aged man.  He was a construction supervisor.  I am a truck driver and had worked a few years of construction, so we had a lot in common and understood ourselves. 

            Because we had a lot in common, we talked a lot of shop talk, which made him happy.  I could tell that he put a great value on his profession.  His job was the only source of stability in his life.

            I was soon to find out why.  He had no children, but he did have four ex-wives!  That was of no big surprise to me because I could tell from the beginning that he was a type A personality!  That type of personality is very hard to live with and to work for also.  Their lives tend to be full of trouble!

            Whenever I visit with someone, I tend to bring up past love lives and how they meet their spouse.  With this gentleman having four ex-wives, that seemed like walking in a minefield!  I left all of that alone!

            He has a sister here in town who has been taking care of him.  He has two other sisters who live out of town who he said that he, “didn’t get along with!”  I was not very surprised to here it.  With four ex-wives and an estranged family, he seemed to have lived a very stormy life.

            So, I said to him that since he had nothing to do but just lay in bed, it might be a good thing to give them a call and see how they were doing, and to let bygones be bygones.

I thought that the idea might have made him angry, to my shock and surprise, he agreed!

            At about that time his lunch arrived.  He really enjoyed his lunch, I don’t blame him, our hospice produces great tasting food from our kitchen.  We talked while he ate.

            Just after he finished his lunch, a middle-aged man walks into the room.  He is an old high school friend!  The environment of the room instantly brightened up!  They greeted each other with great excitement!  Now we had a party going on!

            Now that an old friend had arrived, I tried to excuse myself, since now I thought that I was no longer needed and now just in the way.  Both of them insisted that I stay in the room.  I sat back down and enjoyed their conversation.

            They both happily talked about their high school days, growing up and weekend trips to the beach together. I had the same lifestyle growing up and visited the same beaches as they did growing up, so the three of us had a fun conversation together.  The three of us told a lot of great stories about our teenage years and the fun and crazy things that we all did.

            Then is sister and a nephew walked into the room.  Not the sister that had taken care of him here in town, but one of the sisters that he was estranged from!

            I had afraid that it would be an awkward meeting, but it was not at all.  It was a joyous and tearful reunion from the start!  They embraced each other and cried together, happy tears. All of the past issues just faded away without regret. 

            As they embraced each other, I quietly slipped out of the room.  I now felt that my job there was done.  I felt that I had stood in the gap in a short time before the joy started.  As I quietly walked down the hall of our hospice, I thought to myself that even though this patient had lived a very stormy life, the flowers were now blooming!

Do you know someone with a strong personality?  Can you tell me about it in the comments section?

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Brother Roop