Last chance to share thanks.

Working in a community pharmacy, you get used to the presence of death in the community you serve. You see obituaries of elderly persons you have been coming to your pharmacy for years. You serve cancer patients for months or years and then one day they just stop coming in. Weeks or months later you might hear from a family member or neighbor that they have passed away. We get voicemails in the middle of the night, letting us know that someone has passed away. Hospice calls. Doctors call to share the news. Young husbands and wives stop by to share the news that their spouse has died unexpectedly. You hear parents sharing stories of their kids dying due to accidents or health complications. Death is ever-present and there is no right time or right circumstance. Death is certain, but the time of death is uncertain.

This weekend, one of our long time elderly patients called to thank us for our years of service. He had been diagnosed with the coronavirus and the prognosis was not good. He was quarantined in isolation and he wanted to pass along his thanks while he still had the chance.

We are facing what could be one of the largest pandemics in modern history. Many will die, and they will die in isolation, separated from their family and friends at the moment of death.

We all must set out on the journey of death and dying alone. Where we are setting off to none can follow. Being prepared for that journey is important. Coming to terms with death is never easy, but the more open we can be to the presence of death in our lives, the easier it is to be grateful and share thanks while we still have the chance.

Take some time to reach out to your elderly friends and relatives. Call your neighbor, see how they are doing. We are all facing some challenging weeks and months ahead, but the elderly are especially worried and at significant risk.

You never know when it is your last chance to give thanks.

Time to heal.

We are sick.  Divided. 

This infection runs deep.  Much deeper than we expected, certainly more than we would like to acknowledge.

It doesn't look good.  We don't feel good.  Our future is uncertain. 

We sit, alone in the darkness, wondering how this could happen.  To us. 

Alone, grasping for any words than may grant a moment of solace. 

Alone.  In the darkness. 

People rarely talk about their experience conversing with death.  They don't like to acknowledge the possibility themselves, so it is often too awkward to talk about it with others.  Yet, one who is conversant with death knows one thing to be true.

Make being alone and in the darkness your friend. 

This space, this 3am empty world, with its shadows and resonant hum is often your only home.  It may often manifest as torment in all its variety, but it is yours and you make of it what you will.

Make friends with it.  Make friends with your own mind. 

It is in this space that you will discover what you need to continue to push forward.  It is here, that you discover how to be healthy when you know a cure is not possible.

We are sick, but we are not going to turn our lives over to this sickness.  Our future is uncertain, but for now, we sit in darkness.    

Loneliness.

At the root of loneliness is love.

It's love, not shared.