When I was younger, I moved out West with my infant daughter to begin a new life and new career. After several menial jobs, I was hired as Secretary to the Director of Nursing at a major hospital. At the time, this was where families came to collect the personal belongings of the deceased. Outside the office there was an area where nurses gathered to retrieve paperwork, leave paperwork and chit-chat.
On this particular day all the buzz was about wedding planning. The nurses and doctors had gotten to know a particular patient, as well as family members very well because they all came to the hospital daily to visit her. The oldest granddaughter, full of enthusiasm, announced her wedding to them; it was to take place in a few months. Everyone, was sad because the grandmother was greatly loved and the oldest grandaughter wanted her to attend the wedding. There was a problem: the grandmother was in hospice care, terminally ill, drifting in and out of consciousness.
The nurses had gathered to discuss how they would put on a wedding, how the hospital room would be decorated and how many guests could attend the intimate wedding celebration. Working together, within a week, the six nurses informed the bride and groom of their intentions; enlisted the aid of the hospital chaplain to perform the ceremony; solicited the hospital cooks to provide a wedding cake and ice cream; decorated the hospital room with white flowers and white tulle. Plus, they got their personal manicurist and beautician to donate their services to the grandmother; and the nurses dressed the grandmother-of-the bride in finery and jewelry they had chipped in and purchased. The grandmother looked radiant in her light pink taffeta apparel and her happiness showed.
On Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm, the bride adorned in a white wedding gown, the groom dressed in a black tux, joined the chaplain at the foot of the hospital bed for a wedding ceremony. The grandmother was sitting up in her hospital bed, wide eyed and happy in antiscipation of witnessing her oldest granddaughter get married. Others in attendance for the affair included, four immediate family members, six nurses, 2 doctors and the Director of Nursing. The hospital cooks, with the wedding cake and ice cream, waited outside the nicely decorated hospital room.
The bride and groom exchanged wedding vows, the chaplain blessed the couple, pronouncing them man and wife. When the enthusiastic bride went over to her grandmother’s bed to kiss her and receive her blessing, she noticed she had transitioned with her eyes open watching her odest granddaughter get married. As the doctors checked and pronounced the grandmother dead, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Joy had immediately turned to sadness. As they ate wedding cake and ice cream (with the grandmother still in the room), the bride began to reminisce about her grandmother’s life and how much she was loved.
The grandmother was laid to rest in the beautiful grandmother-of-the bride, pink taffeta wedding dress and jewelry the nurses had purchased and she wore at her oldest granddaughter’s wedding. Everyone at the impromptu, special, intimate wedding ceremony attended the grandmother’s funeral.
The six nurses had delivered a special day and special wedding gift to the bride and groom as well as the grandmother.
Submitted by gabby
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