Bittersweet

How do we foresee our older years? We so easily become caught up in our daily grind - paying bills, raising kids, look at the price of gas! Saturday the ambulance responded to a man down, unknown breathing or pulse. We arrived to find an elderly man face down in his garage, pulseless and not breathing. His wife had returned from grocery shopping, found her husband there and called 911.

Quickly examining our patient, it was obvious there was nothing we could do to resuscitate him, so we turned our supportive care to our second patient. Death of an elderly partner must open a swirling void of grief, fear, and anxiety, and we were ready to provide whatever comfort we could for this man's elderly wife.

But before anything could be said, this frail, white-haired woman struggled to kneel beside her dead husband's body and began to speak to him. Holding his hand, she thanked him for his faithful dedication as a father and husband. She quietly expressed her deep love for him and asked him to be patient until they could become reunited. Then, shakily, she bent down and gently kissed his forehead one last time.

She was spent, and after one feeble attempt to rise, I stepped forward and helped her stand. Although she needed my help, I felt that I was intruding on a reverent moment that shouldn't have been witnessed.

This old couple was in love right up until the end. That kind of love is a garden that requires diligent care to keep it lush and fruitful. Do we see the end of our years as we rush through our days? Do we tend to our gardens that are growing around us, or do we trample upon and step over the weeds, cursing ourselves for not making time to tend them?