I drove one of my charges to visit a friend yesterday,
he is 96 years old with a very healthy sense of humor,
interested in many things but most of all he loves others.
Her name is Claire the lady we visited, a very beautiful woman, kind, compassionate,
who has her mother, and also a Mrs. Daisy who used to care for her mom,
now she takes care of them both.
Claire and her husband Steven just adopted a baby,
and she and her husband are very happy with it,
it brings a very nice kind of chaos to the home,
everyone watches the baby, it takes a village I guess to raise a child.
They pampered Luke, something he deserves,
but they served what I wanted,
hot dogs, mashed potatoes,
sour kraut and baked beans,
the all American meal.
I talked with Clair for awhile while Luke napped,
she said with no self consciousness
“I never thought I could love anything as much as my baby”,
such a beautiful statement from a very kind woman,
truly we find life in giving.
I had coffee about 3 pm, and then took Luke home,
he was in a very good mood going home recounting his time,
the food, the movie he watched, a western, an old one,
he loves old movies, so do I, the 40’s the best.
It is good to be with people of different ages,
inside we are all young, so we acted like children
playing in a sand box,
yes it was a good day,
I was also tired.
People like Luke make getting old less fearful,
oh yes,
as we left he told Clair,
next time we will have meat loaf.
It seems not everyone loves hot dogs as much as me,
oh well.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
