This weekend started out like any other-catching up on housework, getting kids to practice, running errands, etc… How quickly life can change.
After a middle of the night call, we rushed my grandmother to the emergency room,transported her to two hospitals, and were informed today she has an inoperable liver tumor rapidly progressing leaving us only a few short weeks to be together.
As I left the hospital, I was struck by this sign posted on every floor and along every corridor:
We are what people see when they arrive. We are the eyes they look into when they are frightened and lonely. We are the voices people hear when they ride the elevators and when they try to sleep and when they try to forget their problems. We are what they hear during their appointments that could effect their destinies. We are their voices after those appointments.
We are the intelligence and caring that people hope they will find here. No visitor, no patient, …can ever know the real you, the you that you know is there unless you let them see it. Let them see what you know, see you do, and most importantly see how you care. Let them see you.
I could not get these words out of my head. What I know got me through this difficult time, were the people surrounding my family-not their knowledge, although we were grateful for expert advise, not their credentials, but their hearts.
In all life throws at us, I believe, there is always something to learn, and for me it was this: Who we are matters. It matters far more than what we do or what we know.
My grandmother lived her life showing others how much she cared-both stranger and friend saw her love by the way she looked in their eyes, by the sound of her voice, and through her generous actions.
Even now, in her most difficult moments,she is still teaching me how to live my best life possible.
