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I am a Volunteer Visitor with Hospice and this week I went to have my very first visit with a new client I had just been assigned. She's 86, very independent, lives alone and is ambulatory with a walker. Within the first five minutes of arriving, she announced one of her hearing aids was on the blink and she wasn't sure how to handle it. It was distressing her. She knew she needed to get into the local hearing aid center, but wasn't sure how. I offered to drive her down b/c I had two hours of time to give and hell, that's the sort of thing I can offer, as a volunteer. It's what we do.
So, off we went, and as we're driving the 20 minutes down the hill towards the center, she tells me all about her family, her children, her former husbands, etc. At one point, she mentions her son, who lives far away in another state and how he has a business creating furniture from living trees.
I told her that I had actually met somebody many many years ago who did the same thing. We'd struck up a conversation as we were both in a huge atrium room at a local club. I'd had my young kids with me at the time and we'd started chatting about the incredibly large and beautiful plants the atrium was filled with. He'd told me what he did and had given me his card. The whole interaction had been under five minutes.
I had kept the card in my little booklet of peoples' business cards for the longest time and had only recently taken it out, thinking, "WHY am I still holding onto this card, after all these years?" I had thrown it away to make room for another card, but strangely, with some hesitation.
Flash forward to the car ride down with the new Hospice client: She listens to me tell her about having met somebody who also does what her son does and she pulls out his business card to give me. IT WAS THE SAME CARD!! Her son was the SAME guy I had met, many many years ago....loooong before I'd ever gotten involved with Hospice, or even considered it.
I was totally blown away by the synchronicity of it all. What were the chances of this happening?? Plus, the guy lives several states away! He must've just been visiting his mom at the time I met him.
Here's the most beautiful part: the image on the card (and probably why I had been so drawn to it in the first place) was of a living chair, rooted firmly in the earth. It was made of all these inter-connected roots, wound together. What a perfect metaphor for our Life: A place of Connection, Strength, Sustainance, Comfort, Support.
To me, this experience was such a gift and a heart-opening reminder of the inter-connectedness we ALL share. It was seemingly so random, and yet, it wasn't. We are surrounded by Mystery and Magic...Life is a gift. We are, indeed, blessed.
And I am so happy to share this uplifting reminder of those Truths with you this day. :grouphug:
With Love and Light, Shine :hi:
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