One Family’s Story: Miracle at Life’s End

I work with families, helping them find what will likely be their aging parent’s last home. If I pay attention, I can see miracles at work.

 I don’t mean miracles like the parting of the Red Sea, as in the story of Moses. I certainly don’t mean turning water into wine or raising the dead. At life’s end, though,  happenings occur which can hardly be explained other than a miracle, at least to those who believe.

Often, thankfulness encircles a miracle. We express thanks, we look around and mysteriously we’re open to seeing life with new eyes, a sort of miracle all in itself. Some people call it Serendipity. And afterwards, the miracle can continue through the expression of thankfulness.

One day about a month ago, I finished touring a family at Sunrise of Edmonds, an assisted living and memory care community. I hadn’t been there in quite a while. My clients went their way. I went mine. Halfway down the hall I spotted the son-in-law of a resident and family friend whom I had helped move in here a year before.  The resident’s name was Morrie.

“Alice, Morrie passed a little while ago.  But Bunny is still there.” Bunny was Morrie’s wife.

Should I knock on the door or leave the family alone?  So I asked, “Would Bunny mind if I came in?”

Soon I was ushered into the room and greeted like I was family.  I was filled with thankfulness. Bunny was inscribing the back of a beautiful watercolor painting she had done years earlier.

“All of the caregivers here have been wonderful.  This painting is for Morrie’s favorite caregiver. I want to express my special appreciation. She had a smile for him every time she saw him.”

For me, this little glimpse of love and appreciation in the midst of loss was a miracle.  I didn’t come here often, but I showed up that day and was blessed.  I left with a thankful heart.