Gossamer

Washing dishes
Tiny spots of food
Stick to the plate
Jet nozzles blast fiercely
Water drops mercilessly pelt
And
Stuff stays stuck
Yet
Ever-so-lightly touching it
Single fingertip barely brushing
WHOOSH
Away it goes

I wonder

How can something so tough
So resilient
Be
At the same time,
So very fragile?

Autumn's rainy arrival
Spiders' webbed bridges everywhereWinds blow fiercely
Large drops mercilessly pelt
And
Gossamer strands
Hold firm
Yet
Ever-so-lightly touching it
Fingertips barely brushing
WHOOSH
Away it goes

Still I wonder

How can something so tough
So resilient
Be
At the same time,
So very fragile?

Two Hospice admissions
Two patients so similar
Family dynamics blow fiercely
Disease symptoms mercilessly pelt
And
Two gossamer lives
Hold firm
Yet
Ever-so-lightly touching it
Divine Fingertips barely brushing
And
WHOOSH
One life goes away
But
Temporarily
Miraculously
One life lingers

Again I wonder

How something
So very fragile
Can
At the same time
Be
So unbelievably tough
So amazingly resilient?

~ Keith

It is such a secret place, the land of tears.

Crackberry

My job as a Home Hospice Nurse has me driving all over the boonies in Polk County, Oregon. All of the 100+ folks on staff here carry a Blackberry 7250, and we are constantly in communication via eMail -- I get around 40-50 eMails a day on it, and I'm new here, so it will go up as I get more busy.

It is also my work cell phone, and our company has an unlimited data plan, so my Blackberry also carries my gMail, Google Maps, Google News, and Google Search apps, plus access to WeatherUnderground and 2 push-messages a day from AccuWeather. Yes, I'm a geek, but it is also handy to know what weather to expect as I am driving around in it all -- especially as the rains have now hit hard, and winter is still over two months away.

It is really nice to be out and about in a new area, and have the world at my fingertips. As such, I now use it even when I am off duty. I have become "that guy" with the holster on his belt. No, I have not stooped to wearing black socks with white tennis shoes or wearing a belt with shorts -- and I've never worn socks with sandals.

But I am now gloriously, hideously, happily addicted to having it with me at all times.

It is, indeed, my Crackberry.

~ Keith