My heart and spirit have been weighed down a bit this week. The home that I volunteer at had two men pass away in the last week, one gentleman on the 13th of February and one gentleman on the 14th of February. Then I heard about the passing of a former boss of mine, Doug, who passed away on my birthday, February 6th. Out of these three gentlemen, I knew Doug the longest, but I wanted to honor all of their memories equally, in my own little way. When I think about their passing, even today, this overwhelming feeling of grief overcome's me.
The first two men I wanted to tell you about, well, I have to use ficticious names, because of privacy reasons. Sam, the gentleman who passed away on the 13th, he was the person I knew the least about. I met him one night while he was being fed. I would have guessed him to be around my age, 53, 54. Turns out, his obituary said that he was 71, the man held his age very well. That night was just a casual introduction, shaking hands and I was on my way out of his room. Sam was bedridden, and the facility has rules about volunteers staying in a residents room for any length of time. I was curious as to why someone who looked so young would end in an assisted living facility. Sam, I was told by his care giver, had a heart attack, then a pacemaker put in. Sam would not allow the doctors to change the battery in the pacemaker, he was tired of his disability and the burden that he thought he was placing upon his family. I stepped into the building where he resided the day before he passed, and Sam was crying from the pain that he was experiencing. Sam didn't pass alone, he was a very loved man, and his entire family was at his bed side when our Good Lord called him home. Rest in Peace Sam.
The second gentleman, whose passing I think had the biggest effect on me, we'll call him Ted. I met Ted almost nine month's ago, he never said anything to me, but would nod in acknowledgement when I would say "Good Morning Ted", or "Hello Ted." I often heard that Alzheimer's Disease was a horrible, painful disease, that causes degeneration of two lobes of the brain. I sat with Ted watching television about two weeks before he passed away, he seemed in a good mood that day. Two days before Ted passed away, he was totally blind and no longer knew what to do with food or drink, the list goes on, but I'll end it there. Ted was 39 years old, and had developed early onset Alzheimer's. Ted was also a very loved man, and surrounded by his entire family the day our Good Lord called him home. Rest in Peace Ted.
Doug, my boss for several years before he retired, was a very interesting man. He had a business savvy that to be perfectly frank, amazed me at times. Sometimes he would sit for hours and not say a word, all the while thinking about how something about the business could be improved. Doug entrusted me to run a several million dollar per year business, and for that, I will always have respect for the man. I didn't hear of Doug's passing until a few day's ago, I learned that he had passed from bone cancer three weeks before his 54th birthday. Rest in Peace Doug.
I had to take time today and honor a few good men. It was an honor to have met and known you gentlemen, may you Sam, Ted, and Doug, all Rest in peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment