IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD


 

One thing I love about living in this 62+ “active adult” community is the stories I hear from people others might dismiss because they’re retired. Still, many have had fascinating experiences if you take the time to ask questions and listen.

 

At the dog park last night, I heard the riveting story of Betty, a woman in her early 80s who had been on life support several years ago.  The doctors told her daughter, Donna, to contact her family because she was close to death and that life support should be removed.  Thankfully, Donna didn’t agree to remove life support, but she contacted the family to visit Betty anyway, thinking their presence might bring her back.  

 

Betty and I love gospel music, and Betty’s favorite is the magnificent Gaither Vocal Band.  Though she was in a coma, Donna had brought recordings of Gaither music for Betty to hear as she lay in the hospital bed. Donna likely knew that people in comas can often still hear. Betty recalls listening to the Gaithers in a fog and thinking she was in heaven.  Slowly, she awakened to family members gathered around her bed and was shocked they were present.  She had no idea how close she came to dying.

 

Betty looked directly into my eyes and shared that she no longer fears death because she knows that dying will be pleasant and that heaven is filled with the sweet sounds of Bill and Gloria Gaither.  I wanted to weep, not from sadness, but from how happy her vision of the afterlife made her.

 

This morning, I encountered one of the new residents, Mike, who was walking his large, gentle, beautiful, mixed-breed dog.  Mike shared that he and his wife, Linda, were looking seven years ago for a specific breed of puppies available at the shelter, but all the puppies had been adopted when they arrived.  He continued strolling down the aisle while viewing other potential adoptees when one of them bolted out of his cage, ran toward him, and put his paws on Mike’s shoulders.  Mike knew that this dog had chosen him.  When he went to the front to complete the adoption papers, he learned the dog was already scheduled for foster placement.  However, the foster placement failed after a couple of days because the foster mom was still grieving her pet, who had recently died.  When Mike and Linda learned he had been surrendered again, they returned to the shelter; Mike was enthusiastically met with paws on his shoulder.

 

Serendipity is a many splendored thing, and embracing happiness in all its forms is the best part of being alive.



 

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