Rabbit Trails and Spiderwebs

The Touch Stone The smoothness of a smooth stone is like no other.   Remember going to the tourist shops and picking out the smooth stones and letting them slither through your fingers, what a feeling.   The colors were amazing, and the shapes interesting, but the touch was like none other.   Maybe it was the coolness as much as anything.   Or, perhaps it was the intimidating size of the bin or tub holding them and the knowledge that you were limited, to only a few choice ones.   Only some smart aleck would know if it was granite or amethyst or some other obscure nugget from Persia, you just knew it was wonderful. Giving little thought to the facts that they may not have started out smooth, you simply wanted to put a few in the little leather pouch and take them with you.   Did you show them to everyone or only your friends that would appreciate them?   Did you treat them as casual gravel or put them in the goldfish bowl later...

A Friend called Joseph (a tale of yore)  I really wasn’t looking for a friend like Joseph. It was one of those serendipity things that made a difference and made a friend.   Once begun there was no turning back, only a new direction forward and around rocks that appeared.   Like when our sons were born in the same month. What a couple of weeks that was.   This time there were cigars added to the coffee and cribbage games.   There was much backslapping and dreaming while we walked and talked on the way to work.   We had become quite good friends indeed.   It was one of these rare types that the wives and the husbands are all good friends. Really good friends, friends that overlooked the way he picked at his beard and I picked my teeth.   Our young boys were part of the mix, and such a reason for joy. Our meetings at the coffee shop were something to look forward to.   Lively debates about the camel races, neighborhood...

Hospice There is an organization that was designed for the sole purpose of giving care to the dying through their last months of life.   Hospice was a word derived from “hospitality” of all things, and now since the 1960’s, the movement to a home based end of life program has had the name.   The name is good, the program is good, and the idea that there is a gentle way to the natural end of life is a welcome change to the fate that awaits us all.   There is a question though.   Like all of life there are times when the end of life comes sooner and in ways unexpected to some of us.   What then about the function of Hospice.   The group is actually called Hospice and Palliative Care providers.   It is the Palliative in the group that I want to focus for a minute. Palliative Care is the part that deals with the pain, the stress, the anxiety, and the symptoms of illness.   So you would be trained in the ability to observe and...