Yesterday I saw something…no, I witnessed something,  because what was truly happening I could not see. A co-worker and I went to peek in on a potential hospice patient. We had reviewed her chart and she seemed “appropriate” but the visual is very important, sometimes things are not what they appear to be.

The elderly woman was lying in bed, a fragile bird. She was pale, beyond pale, and the sinew of her hands was evident even from a distance. She did not appear to be in distress, but what she was doing was amazing.  She was having a conversation, an intimate exchange of words with someone right in front of her. There was no one present to the visible eye.  She was quite engaged, I could not make out the words from the doorway where I lingered, but I could tell from her facial expression this was an important conversation.

“She’s speaking with the spirit side!” I said to my coworker. Quite suddenly she stopped and turned towards us.

“They told her we were watching her!” my coworker surmised. We smiled and left her to her work, because this truly is important stuff, the conversations had in preparation with the transition to the Afterlife.

I am so grateful to bear witness to these moments; it brings me peace and gives me strength to continue in hospice. It reinforces my belief that when our loved ones pass over they are guided by Angels and the spirits that went before them.  No one “dies” alone. Ever.