The Indomitable Spirit

True Story. Once upon a time, there was an older woman who was under the care of hospice. She was within hours of crossing over.

The only family she had were caregivers in the group home where she lived. They called the hospice nurse. It was after hours, so the nurse that came wasn’t their regular nurse.

She assessed the older woman. She was restless and very confused. After speaking with the caregivers, she gave the woman some prescribed medication for relaxation. The nurse sat down next to her and talked to her. Her breaths were becoming fewer and fewer. She continued to speak to the woman who had become unresponsive. The nurse believed that, even though she couldn’t respond, the woman could hear her. So she talked about life and how she could walk her down her path as far as she could go.

With sudden alertness, the woman sat bolt upright in bed, screaming, “Where are you taking me? I’m not going ANYWHERE with you”! The caregivers and the nurse jumped, held their breaths for a second, then laughed. The nurse tried to calm her patient, but the woman just pointed at her screaming, “You! Get away from me! I’m not going anywhere with you!”! She lived for almost a week longer.

No matter how much we assess and try to predict things in our lives. No matter just how good our assessment may be, there are always things that will disrupt the flow. Chaos happens.

Acceptance of the chaos may sound counterintuitive. It may also sound defeatist. ‘It doesn’t matter, I can’t change things anyway, just let me not see and move on.

It’s not. Sometimes going with the flow means hitting a few rocks, some of them sharp, along the way. We get banged up and sometimes downright broken. Healing is hard, but it also happens. And then we move into the flow again, until we find more chaos. It’s not pretty, but lucky for us, we have each other. Right?