a beloved shepherd

last month, i had the privilege to stay with and help care for a friend's parents while my friend was in europe.  both parents were on hospice, so there was a team of us.  i was staying downstairs taking the dinner and overnight shift, checking in/breakfast in the morning before work.

we kept a running journal so each friend, nurse, or family member was updated before starting their shift.  my visit was so beautiful, the privilege of being in liminal space with such lovely humans, that i'm still pondering our conversations.  each morning and evening when i drove forth and back down the long driveway it was like leaving and re-entering a completely different space and time.

one evening when i came home to make dinner and take it up to eat together, her dad exclaimed, "did you see how the sun is exciting the hillside?" and i had, actually.  dramatic white cumulous clouds flanked by dark grey clouds and pierced by sunlight illuminating the late-autumn green.  

this morning her father passed peacefully into the next realm.  (since it's my friend's news, i'm not sharing details or photos here, but he had the most sparklingly vivacious eyes.)  in his lucid moments, he told me stories about when he was a shepherd in montana and then we would philosophize together unless it was too tiring for him. 

he no longer needs his pill box or place card reminding him where he sits.

i've got a candle lit in his honor as they set his favorite sweather and suspenders aside to prepare his burial shroud and am smiling as i remember our time together.  "do you see how your life is illuminating and exciting the hillside?" 

as he held and rested his sheep, the shepherd is now at rest.