The Hardest of Hospice

I get a lot from visiting patients at the hospice, but one thing I didn't count on was forming friendships with dying people. It seemed a recipe for making what can be hard also painful. But it has happened and it's a good thing. So now the hardest part is when people I feel an instant or growing bond with die sooner than I'd expected. It's happened three times now, once with a crossword solver who was so happy when I printed the Times Tuesday puzzle and left it with her and three days later when I went back she was gone. And now yesterday a man of humor and wide-ranging past who was there for only a month and getting comfortable with having me show up, even on his bad days. A connection had started, value on both sides, and just like that it's done for good.