"What a Wonderful World"

I've only had two experiences with Hospice, the first with my mother who was already in a (terrific) nursing home and just got a bit different kind of care. Nothing that was was discernible to the inexperienced eye. I have just returned from my second experience. After enduring Denver's first blizzard just before Christmas while under home hospice care, My Aunt R moved into a hospice center, and a lovely one it is. The staff, the room, everything. Each private room has a window to the well-tended outdoors, complete with bird feeder. But what topped all that for me was while my brother and I were sitting and visiting with my aunt and all of a sudden, her eyes lit up even as she was waving the person at her door away. When we learned that this young woman was there to sing to her any song she wanted, we said, "No, come in. Come in." And she did. She sang my aunt's favorite song, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" in a clear sweet soprano, accompanying herself on her guitar. She is a music therapist who comes twice a week to serve the patients in this way. She also pulls with her a suitcase full of sheet music (all genres) in case she doesn't know what someone might request. As music often does, her singing stirred my emotions and loosened my tears. We got to talking with her and learned that she is also in an MDiv program at a seminary in Denver. I am going to send a copy of Stuart Townend's "The Lord's My Shepherd" (Ps. 23), a relatively new arrangement of this favorite psalm in hopes that she can add it to her repertoire and sing it to my Aunt R as well. Even as I give thanks for Hospice.