Wow. Chaplain's don't usually get told these kinds of stories. I must have smiled. Because he realized what he'd said and backtracked saying "No, no. These are just food stories."
The first tale was about taking his wife to his hometown and introducing her to his favorite breakfast joint. Grits, eggs, potatoes and bacon, coffee and biscuits. Oh the biscuits. With melted butter and blackberry jam. That's when his wife really fell in love with him. Mid biscuit, her eyes were rolling in rapture. Heck. My eyes were rolling just listening.
The second tale involved his expertise in choosing perfect figs. "They must be just ripe, with stripes down each side. You have a very small window of time to pick them before they go begin to rot." So he found the perfect fig and offered it to a friend. She declined saying she didn't like figs, or any other dried fruit. He told her she had never really had a fig. One bite in and her eyes were rolling in joy.
"Do you know how satisfying it is to give another person a great experience?" He asked. I tried not to smile again. And thought about how many times patient's families thank us for being with them through their hard time. They talk about how the gentleness of the nurses, the time the doctor's took with them, how great their loved one felt after a CNA's visit, how caring the social worker was and on and on.... Their gratitude follows us out the door.
Wendie Malick says it this way. "I think there is something for all of us where you find a balance in your life, where you feel that everything you do isn't about your own creature comforts or satisfying your own appetites. Some of it has to be directed outward and there is a huge satisfaction in that."
So whether it is a hot biscuit, a fresh fig or a being part of a talented team of hospice coworkers, give a little of yourself. And eyes will roll.
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