A year ago, I was sitting by mother’s bedside as she transitioned between the living and the beyond. She fought for hours, talking to someone as she pointed at the wall. At one point late in the night, I had been up for 24+ hours and just couldn’t stay awake. I kissed her on the forehead and walked out of the room expecting never to see her alive again. The next morning, I came back to her room and she was sitting up and eating breakfast. I looked at her and said, “Well, good morning, Lazarus.”
Lucy, the caregiver we had hired, was sitting there with her feeding her. Lucy and I had visited the night before as she told me of her life in Nigeria and how she had risked everything to make a better life for her family here. She was a devout Christian and as my mother fought, Lucy and I talked about faith. She smiled as I walked in the door as she prepared to end her shift. When she left, I noticed something under my mother’s hospice bed:
It was a folded paper angel Lucy had made sometime during the night.
Today I spoke to Mississippi Health Care Association Volunteer & Caregiver Awards Luncheon. Although no one in the room worked with my parents (they were in Georgia), I still thanked them for their kindness and compassion. Between dad being in the memory care home and mother’s need for care, caregivers became lifesavers for not only them but my sisters and me as well.
It was an honor to be with them today. I was thankful I was able to express my gratitude for their mission and passion.