"Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy." – Dietrich Bonhoffer
The people in front of me, hundreds of them, were all my age. Many had white hair. Some of the men had no hair at all. They all had wrinkles where none had been the last time I saw many of them.
That's what you see at a college or high school reunion when it's been decades since you graduated. Suddenly, you are surrounded by people your age sharing increasingly dim memories of school days past.
What struck me about the 45th college reunion my wife and I attended at Northwestern University recently was how old everyone looked. Of course, they were gazing back at me and thinking the same thing.
As we age, we all like to imagine we're still young – especially when our health is good and we feel younger than we may look. But, there's no escaping the truth of older age and the "pangs of memory" when hundreds of your ancient-looking classmates are in the same room with you.
Dismayed for awhile by this experience, I finally remembered my daughter's wise counsel when she heard me complaining on my sixtieth birthday. "Dad, you should be grateful for your age. Think of all the people who never had the chance to live as long as you have."
Gratitude is a healing ointment for wounded souls.
One of the many privileges I enjoyed while serving as the president of three different hospital systems was the honor of handing out service awards for caregivers. It can be a magical thing to be able to work in the same place for a long time and to be honored for that.
Think of the vast crowd of people you have helped as a caregiver. If you've worked long enough, the crowd of those whose lives you've touched could fill many auditoriums.
Retirement can be a melancholy occasion. I've seen so many retiring caregivers standing by the punch bowl receiving polite thanks and listening to brief little speeches about their entire life's career.
Gratitude for a life of caregiving, can never be expressed in any farewell event. Instead, it exists in this happy truth: Caregivers touch the lives of so many across their careers. Thousands of patients, family and friends have been affected, not to mention the experiences of co-workers. How lucky to have taken the chance to bring light and Love into their lives. What a "tranquil joy."
-Reverend Erie Chapman
*Photo of nurse and patient taken at Yale New Haven Hospital by Tia Ann Chapman -Courtesy of The Hartford Courant
Journal of Sacred Work 
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