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Showing posts from September, 2016

Sixty-seven years

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Sixty-seven years is a very long time. One of the patients I recently visited on my volunteer chaplain rounds is a fairly new arrival at the senior facility. Well into her nineties, she has some physical limitations, but her mind is sharp, and she's bright as a new penny. Speaking with her is a real pleasure, and I look forward to our visits. Ellen (not her real name, of course) valued her independence. She had lived in her home, a large, three-story Victorian, for sixty-seven years, the last twenty or so on her own, after the death of her husband. Ellen is grieving for her house now, and trying to make the adjustment to living in her new apartment. "In my house," she complained during my last visit, "I knew where everything was. I could reach into a cabinet without looking, and find what I needed. Now I don't know where anything is. Where's the spatula? Where's the gravy boat?" The sad thing, of course, is that Ellen knows she will probabl

September sizzle

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I've been taking an informal survey among my friends. Of those of us who grew up around here (the tri-state area of PA-NJ-DE),  none of us remembers this kind of heat in September. Yet here we are, approaching the middle of the month, and my weather app informs me that it's 95 degrees. 95 degrees. Since I've always worked in academia, the arrival of September always brings me a jolt of energy: the kids are back to school, the leaves are turning brilliant colors, the nights are crisp and cool. All the cute sweaters we've bought for fall are hanging in the closet, begging to be worn. Yeah, OK. No jolt of energy this year. The kids are back to school and sweltering in their classrooms. The leaves are falling because they're dead . The nights are muggy, just as they were in July. And the cute fall sweaters are jammed into the back of the closet, because we're still wearing summer tops. And the regional forecast for the fall? Warm. Much above average. No s