In the blink of an eye

The other day my best friend gave birth to a beautiful girl, Mia.  Right before she had her, I thought to myself "isn't it amazing that someone is about to begin their earthly life and be in such a wonderful family!  One second they're attached to their mother and haven't seen life, and in the blink of an eye, they just made their debut to the world.   Funny what can happen within seconds."

Don't Blink- Kenny Chesney

As some of you may know, I recently started volunteering for a wonderful organization "No One Dies Alone."  After the orientation, background check and test, i was finally ready to start!  After a couple days of not hearing anything (which is really a good thing), I got my first call.  I sat with my first "patient" and rubbed her feet and massaged her head like her family said she loves.  I was kinda unsure as to what I should do, but as being hospice, I just made sure she seemed comfortable.  I went to visit this patient two days in a row and a couple hours after I had left on day two, she left this world for a better one. 

The next day (yesterday) I got my next "patient."  It was weird because although I had only been around one person dying (my beautiful sister Julee), I never realized how different everyone goes through their final stage of life.  This patient was so peaceful and his breathing was so relaxed, I wondered how someone would think his life was about to end.  After my scheduled two hour shift, I knew their was no one to replace me until later in the morning.  It made me sad to think he might go during the night, alone.  His breathing started to change so I decided to stay with him until I felt ok to leave.  By 3:15am, I alerted staff about his breathing and they gave him oxygen to help him.  I left at 3:30am and said a silent prayer for him.  Its been almost 12hrs since I left and soon i'm going back until someone relieves me. 

No one should ever have to die alone because as NODA says "you're born with people surrounding you and you should pass with people around you." 

I realized that i'm not helping people, they're helping me!  It's only day 4 of volunteering and my perspective on life has changed dramatically. 

I never knew I could care about someone without even knowing them!