Unnoticed, grace is acquired. When we tend to those that meander towards death; when we care for those that are older than ourselves, with patience and a love that insists, that despite the fading strengths the life shall go on as easily as possible never drawing notice to the wane, we learn grace here. It is a privilege to care for another human being as they slowly prepare to leave. It teaches us about life and it steadies us for our own demise. It is how we practice our own death. Death is hardest on those that are left behind. On those who must continue without the beloved. Now is the time when we begin to shuffle through our memories. Taking one out of the deck and placing it back leaving it there until it perhaps means something more profound later. Placing importance on the memories that will remain 'as is' since there is no more time to go back, to change. We will rummage through our memories finding long forgotten wisdoms, we will search our own faces recognizing...
mostly gentle, sometimes turbulent