Hold a purring cat in my lap or be loved on my dogs while doing my job.
Watch loved ones say final goodbyes.
Take out the garbage and recycling when that is the patient's primary concern of the day.
Try to help a patient with a 5 minute memory come up with ways to "remember" to take her pain medications and know if they even helped.
Drive all over one of the most beautiful settings in the world with snow capped mountains, rivers, trees, salt water, fresh water, and ships.
Get stuck in traffic.
Visit patients in wealthy mansions and dingy apartments filled with spiderwebs and cockroaches.
Get severely scolded for not taking my shoes off.
Get scolded for even thinking I should take my shoes off.
Talk to families about things to expect and what to do as their loved one dies.
Listen to patients talk about plans to use the Death with Dignity act to end their lives.
Try to answer difficult questions asked by terminally ill patients, like "So...how is your life going?"
Witness the tenderness of care from a husband for his wife.
Step into the chaos of multiple families coming together for one purpose: comforting and caring for Bestefar (Norwegian for grandfather) to the end.
Hear stories of family, work, life, and grief over loss.
And sometimes...be present as life departs.
In all of this, I think I learn more about life than about death itself.
