Wondering about my Wanderings

Relationship bingo

I am already into the New year when I find myself puzzled by how relationships can spin. Early in the week I talked to a volunteer coordinator and was told how wonderful I was doing with a mentally handicapped eighty three year old man. I was told that due to the fact he had the flu she advised me not to see him.

The next day things becames strange. I was called by another coordinator who told me that he did not want a hospice volunteer anymore. It is much harder to let go of a relationship that seemed to be working so well. We hemmed and hawed trying to figure out what happened. We agreed that the guardian probably made the choice after John went into the hospital with respiratory issues. I was left with the choice of whether I wanted to see him or not outside he auspices of hospice.

Life seems an awful like that, especially as one gets older and loss is more likely. Just when you get close to someone they are gone. It provides me with a resources to understand the heartbreak of youth. People matter. The more arduous exercise is determining how to live out that love in a way that respects the persons and the persons they love.