Went on a hospice call to a nearby town yesterday with Keith Mann, the Washington County Hospice official who got Izzy and I into volunteering (along with Jean Malone, the Hospice Bereavement Counselor). Alice was lying still in bed, going in and out of consciousness, but she beamed from ear to ear when she saw Izzy. We didn’t stay long, as Alice was short of breath and tired. We had a tough time maneuvering into position in the hospital bed. I asked her if she wanted us to return, and she nodded and smiles.”Yes,yes,” she said.
  I have been nearly overwhelmed with work lately, writing children’s books, my novel, running the farm. I was happy to be out with Izzy again. We will see Alice again this weekend. She lives right in the middle of a Main Street in a small nearby town, and I am always struck at how the drama of life and death so often plays out in windows, the cards and stream of preoccupied people completely unaware. Hospice is a gift.