Sunday October 26, 2014
Penny’s
story continues.
My husband
Ralph and I have tickets for the Beverley Elliott play tonight, ‘didn’t see
that coming’, at the Unity Church we attend.
Her one man play was picked as the top six at this year’s Vancouver
Fringe Festival. It has already been a
magic filled morning of ‘accidental’ story moments that I will also submit to
the 50 stories for 50 years project that is part of the churches 50th
anniversary celebration.
After church
we head to the Vancouver B.C. Cancer Agency to visit Penny, a dear friend I
first met at the BCCA back in the early 1990’s.
She is on her journey home to the other side. She has been unresponsive since last
Wednesday. The journey with her has been
magical. Penny was part of the core
group of five of us that volunteered for years with the relaxation and
Therapeutic Touch programs at the clinic.
We haven’t seen each other for years and now we have all come together
again as Penny orchestrates’ her magic.
This is the
story of how this jaw dropping experience
unfolds.
Penny’s hospital room is crowded when we
arrive. Gertie, one of the core group of
five, is there and she takes us to the quiet room to visit with us. This is the first time Ralph has seen her in
years. When we wander back to Penny’s
room, Penny’s friends and relatives are just leaving.
That leaves the 3 of us to visit Joan,
Penny’s cousin who has been sleeping over.
The memories start to flow as we tell Joan all about back in the 1990’s
when… stories. Sandy, another core group
five, arrives. It is a wonderful
afternoon of trips down memory lane. We
talked about the music therapist, Katherine, who arrived to do a rotation at
BCCA as a student and then was hired on as a music therapist. She eventually moved on and worked at Canuck
Place for years and is now retired from Music Therapy.
MY JAW DROPPED when I saw Katherine walking
our way. She had her guitar.
Words don’t do this story justice.
We were treated to the most touching magical
private musical concert all thanks to Penny.
After a couple of songs, Katherine added stories to our trip down memory
lane. Then more guitar playing and
singing. Another of Penny’s friends
arrived and started to sing along with Katherine. We were in heaven.
It’s 5:00 p.m. and Ralph and I haven’t eaten. We tell them that our churches music
director, Beverley Elliott, is putting on her play tonight. Katherine says, “ you have a dynamite of a
music director “ and starts singing a song that Beverley wrote called, ‘Are You
Listening’.
That night at the play, the icing on the
cake moment for us was when Beverley sang ‘Are You Listening’
Many
blessings to you all.
Sage
For more
about this journey with Penny, check it out at lynnstory.blogspot.ca
* names
have been changed for confidentiality
** When we visited Penny this morning, Gertie (not her
real name) told me she had read this to Penny. Then she told me that the
name I used for her was her mother’s name.
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