Journeys to Home
by
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Chapter 1
Lydia
I heard very little from Lydia through the 3 years I visited her. Mostly, she lay in bed although some days she was up in her wheelchair. She never spoke – well – twice in those years that I heard. She never moved much. She rarely opened her blind eyes. She could hear only slightly with her right ear … and then only when one shouted directly into that ear. This was Lydia’s life.
But I visited. I visited regularly and a couple of times I saw a glimmer of light … of life. It made me realize that maybe all those times of bellowing the Lord’s Prayer into that almost deaf right ear might have been important to Lydia.
One break in her shell came as she was fed dinner one day. The CNA spooned in some pureed meat and Lydia shouted, “That tastes like paper!” No doubt … Another time I had cranked up the volume on my MP3 speakers to earsplitting. I set the speakers by her ear and a local trio sang “How Great Thou Art” in perfect harmony. When the song was over, Lydia shouted, “Sing! Sing! Sing!” We have listened to lots of music since then. At one visit, I sat with Lydia in the hallway by the nurses’ station and one of the off-duty nurses came in with a puppy. She set the puppy in Lydia’s lap and I picked up her hand to feel the downy softness of the fur. No response. Then that little wiggly tan puppy decided to take matters into his own paws. He put those paws on Lydia’s chest and started to lick her face. And Lydia broke into giggles.
Miracles are realized through pureed meat and inspiring music and wet puppy tongues.
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About the Book
Author Janna Benson Kontz took the job of hospice chaplain as a stopgap, filling the time until she was called to serve at a church. She had no idea that hospice work would turn out to be her true calling.
Journeys to Home presents a poignant trip across the prairie and into the heart of a hospice chaplain. These powerful stories of spirituality and faith seek to touch your heart and soul, while Kontz’s simple photos capture the essence of being at peace with nature and oneself. Her stories about patients and families who have changed her deeply can draw you into their lives and change your idea of what the end of this life might look like. She shares the rhythm of the prairie in “Road Warrior,” “Lyle,” and “Mike” and the strength and faith of her patients in the pieces about “Fern,” “Bonnie,” and “Ole.”
Journeys to Home takes a rare look inside the final days and moments of those who are at the end of their lives and confronts the realization that death is not a disaster to be feared but a journey to home.
About the Author
Janna Benson Kontz was raised on the farm her grandfather homesteaded in northern Minnesota. She and husband, Doug, have two grown daughters, Kori and Britta, and one son-in-law, Luke. Janna enjoys her work with hospice; loves writing, travel, photography, baking, and sewing; and especially loves spending time with family.