Remember Albom's book: The Five People You Meet in Heaven?

Generous Omi, thank you for picking my comment from your posting a few weeks ago, and sending me such a nice box full of goodies.

You might want to read about the amazing occurrence here that Omi and her dog were lucky enough to encounter...spoiler alert: a $500 table she coveted 11 years ago she now owns.

Back to the treats that Omi sent: at least 30 items including little soaps, trinkets, books, charms, buttons, yarn, magazines, pin cushions.  Oh, my!  She even sent extra goodies because she knows they can be passed along to our local hospice patients.

Which leads me to the wonderful thing that happened yesterday while Libby and I were visiting a very ill elderly woman in her last hours of her long life;  and hence, the title of the blog post.
                                                                  
                                                                The Event

Our patient (Mrs. A) was not rousing when Libby and I arrived at the nursing home, along with our special friend and new hospice volunteer, Mary.  The aides said she had been asleep all morning and they could not awaken her, and that likely she had only a few more hours of life.

Libby licked Mrs. A's hand and I talked to her, placing my hand on her shoulder.  Within five minutes, Mrs. A. began a very lucid conversation, and talked about how her daughters had come from long distances over the weekend to visit with her.  Mrs. A. petted Libby and continued in conversation with us for 20 minutes more. The nurses and aides were surprised that she rallied to raise her head and talk with us.

After Mrs. A was fully awake and conscious of her surroundings, an elderly woman was brought in to the room by her middle aged daughter.  The visitor was in a wheelchair, connected to oxygen and had a bit of difficulty in speaking due to lack of breath, but we understood within a few moments that this visitor was Mrs. A's long time best friend.

Mary, Libby and I excused ourselves with heartfelt goodbyes and returned to our car. 

Mitch Albom  in his book The Five People You Meet in Heaven posits that we are all connected to another, and that an action undertaken by one person is destined to have an unanticipated and often life-changing influence upon someone else.

Perhaps the reason for our simple visit and leaving a small gift was simply to awaken Mrs. A. so that she could see her best friend and talk a bit with her before she left this world.

Makes sense to me.