BEATING A MOUNTAIN

Sometimes reaching out

and just holding hands

is a connection that your

H E A R T

will require that you do often.          .          .

In fact,

YOUR     HEART

won’t   be   the   same

E                 V                 E                 R

unless   it’s   connected

hand   to   hand

I saw her in the hallway when I walked into the facility

and she was talking on the phone

but it looked like she was talking to herself.           .           .

Moments later I saw her at the vending machine

OFF  OF  THE  PHONE.          .          .

she was buying a bag of salted nuts

and was wheeling around her own oxygen tank

and it was a simple question I asked:

“How   are   you?”

with a most significant answer:

“YOU    CAN’T    BEAT    A    MOUNTAIN!”

Talk about your

B                            A                            M

of   the   Day

When people have asked me

since 1994

“HOW  CAN  YOU  DO  THIS  WORK  OF  HOSPICE with all of the Death and Dying?”

My stock answer is anything but

I N    S T O C K:

“Everyday I don’t so much serve the dying as much as I companion the Living,”

.       .       .the MOUNTAIN-CONQUERING-STORM-WALKING-FIRE-EATING-SUNSHINE-SHINING-BRIGHTER-RAYS-EVER-PRODUCING-LIVING

The  Truth:

I’m still one of the most selfish people I’ve ever known

and I’m not ashamed to admit that by being a

Caring Catalyst

and showing up everyday

if to do nothing more than just

J O I N I N G     H A N D S

I become more completed

than any box of jumbled puzzle pieces

could ever become

and I’m always in search of the next hand.        .        .

the not-so-much-missing-piece

but the not-yet-found-one.          .           .

Because you just can’t

BEAT      A       MOUNTAIN

In fact.        .        .

Compassion adds to its Peak

HAND    AND    HAND

D i s c o v e r

and   ever

R           E           D           I           S           C           O           V           E           R

Let’s    go    Climbing

and let’s have our seemingly

L   A   S   T         S   T   E   P

be  really   just   another   one   of   our

F   I   R   S   T   S

in the many

of    more   to   come