Monthly Archives: January 2016

This woman uses song to reach nursing home patients

Toward the end of my active career as a registered nurse, I spent about a year working in a nursing home in Massachusetts. I found it incredibly difficult. I realize now that I was torn between my need to get the work done on a shift-to-shift basis and the great, bottomless emotional needs of our residents, who so often […]

When life gives you a deer…

Douglas called the house the other evening to say he would be a little late getting home. I was in the kitchen fussing with supper when his old Volvo wagon pulled up the driveway. He hustled in and dropped a few bundles on the hall table. “Get your coat on,” he said. He seemed a […]

Missing my mom and the privilege of caregiving

If she were still living, last Monday would have been my mother’s 98th birthday. Although it’s been more than 22 years since she left us, the day still registers with a tinge of sadness and regret. I was at her side when she died, but there was so much left unsaid between us. I understand […]