While these were some of the most painful days of my life, they also were some of the most peaceful. There was a sweetness to the Presence in room 14 of the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home. The nursing staff that gave Mom remarkable care were loving and kind, calm and quiet. Their presence was almost unseen and yet very palpable. We all knew we had been accompanied by these earthly angels in this journey with Mom toward Home.

Those days were interestingly fun at times too. I think that’s life: beautiful and brutal, painful and hilarious, dark and luminous. There, it became abundantly clear that joy and sorrow dance together in the same room. There was and continues to be a cloud of sorrow over everything, but certainly Joy was present in that place!

Each of you moved us in different ways when you appeared in the doorway of our extended living room, immediately recalling a story or another time in our lives. Some of my responses surprised me. There is one story in particular that comes to my mind often and still brings a chuckle every time. For some reason, seeing my parents’ long time hairdresser and friend come into Mom’s Hospice room brought me to tears. Seeing Pam, there in that sacred space, coming to tell us how much she loved Mom and how special my Mom had been to her, gave me pause to reflect on just how special Mom made us all feel. My eyes well up now with tears recalling how Mom always made it a point to make you feel special and loved. Pam has cut Mom and Dad’s hair for at least 30 years, so a sweet relationship had developed there that both parties treasured. Pam shared in the grounded, perhaps messy, earthly business of grooming, also in the sacred business of the spiritual life and now in the holy space of dying.

Pam and I shared a sweet hug and tears when she came in. She hugged Dad, having just cut his hair that morning. We all had a moment where she told Mom how much she loved her and would miss caring for her beautiful white halo hair. Tears. So many tears. Then, she came over to me again, we hugged and she leaned in close. I steadied myself to hear some sweet and perhaps hard words. Instead, she whispers, “I just cut your Dad’s hair, and he might be upset with me. I trimmed those eyebrows without him knowing or even asking him. I knew your Mom would want me to!” We both broke into a fit of laughter! More tears, these sweetened with the scent of joy. My sweet Daddy’s eyebrows certainly have a mind of their own! If you’ve seen what my eyebrows are capable of, you have an idea of the bountiful nature my Dad’s. Oh, Pam, how we love you! Oh, sweet Jesus, how we give thanks for the laughter in the midst of the pain, giving us nothing less than your wild peace.

Wild peace. That’s the only way I know to describe the staggering ways Love is showing up in our lives.