A Mitzvah: Visiting the dying

It is a mitzvah (a Jewish commandment/good deed rolled into one) to visit the sick and dying, so Patty's and my beach retreat can wait a few hours. My friend/patient may not. This is no burden. In fact, I am lucky and privileged to be invited into these moments, these turning points and passages.

What I do miss is the other end of the cycles, the births, the bar mitzvahs, the graduations, the marriages. Those are less frequent these days, and a "senior" family doctor like me get called to less and less of them as my patients get older too. It's especially true for me as I no longer sees all those germy kids.

This serves as a reminder to celebrate the big events when they do appear and gives even more reason to squeeze the joy out of all life's little wonderful moments, victories, and treasures.