Love.

Drew this today from this picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/henny77/358121267/

I wanted to find a perfect quote to post with it. I'm torn between these three:

"If you would be loved, love and be lovable." -- Benjamin Franklin
From this picture, it's hard to tell which person is more in love. And in seeing that, you realize how lovable they each must really be. Sometimes the residents tell me, "Oh you're so sweet," and I always say something like, "Well that's just because you're easy to be sweet to!" To me, that's just a fallback phrase to take the attention off of me, but I think there is actually a lot of truth in that. If we really desire to be loved, we should probably start by looking inward.

"The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost." -- G. K. Chesterton
One of the most heart-wrenching parts of my job is seeing the spouses of the residents come in and sit faithfully by their side, even though the most response they might get is a twitch of the finger. Some of them come every single day just to sit and hold their loved one's hand, even though in many respects they have already said goodbye. Unfortunately most of these love stories don't end like they do in "The Notebook." Sooner or later most loves will end with a goodbye (at least from this world), and the sooner we can realize that, the more passionately we will love in the meantime.

"Where there is love there is life." -- Gandhi
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Our residents are easily some of the most "full-of-life" people I have ever met. They are rejected, alone, and afraid, yet most of them still find a reason to smile. As long as their hearts are beating, there is still a person there to be loved. Our measure of life is not lost with years gone by. It is not a matter of time or frailty, but a matter of love. And that is something that ought to be growing stronger every single day we live. It may sound impossible in such a heartless world, but I know it's possible. I see it in my residents' eyes every day.