Tasha Tuesday

"Hello", said Tasha when she greeted me at the front door.  She was carrying her breakfast in a bag but looked like she was ready to take the runway.  I convinced her to take a seat for the first photo of the day.  Tasha is such a good sport.  I follow her around Clarehouse like a little puppy.... only this puppy keeps snapping off a flash in her face.  I think she is ready to throw me a bone to get me out of her hair












Speaking of hair, she is still sporting the red streak.  Nobody wears red like Tasha.










She such a good sport she even lets me take pictures of her feet.  She says she likes to match.... her hair, her toes,  her fingernails.   And the ensemble with the accessories, they must match too. 











Off she goes... Tasha and her breakfast to meet the day at Clarehouse... to take care of those who lay their heads at Clarehouse.... to support her co-workers and make every guest at Clarehouse as comfortable as possible. Now a girl can't do that on an empty stomach, can she?

Before long Tasha returned and peeked her head around the corner.  There was reason to celebrate at Clarehouse.  A guest was actually returning home.  Their health had so improved since coming to Clarehouse that they no longer needed her special care.  That doesn't happen too often.  When it does, it is both sweet and sad.

Getting in the car for the ride home

Lots of good byes and lots of rejoicing

Tasha has a heart as big as those earrings.   Saying good bye is sweet sorrow, but a whole lot easier when a guest that once thought they would never sleep in their own bed again, returns home.

There is a tradition at Clarehouse that when a guest passes on the family can release a butterfly to mark the passing of their loved one and to honor the life they lived. 

Clarehouse has a butterfly habitat in the lobby where I volunteer as receptionist.  It was built by He-man-hubby and I get the special pleasure of watching the butterflies emerge from their cocoons.  It is very cool and only one of several perks to my volunteer position.

The butterflies seem to hatch all at one time and when they do they create quite a ruckus.  Those tiny wings are very noisy when trying to flap their way out of a cocoon.

Butterflies surround the habitat.  They are mounted in frames, quoted in text and ordained in art. 


Life transitioning from one form to the next is what Clarehouse is all about.





And we will be experiencing that ourselves on Thursday morning when Daughter-in-law and her doctor break little baby girl from the womb.   Mom is counting the minutes and packing bags and washing little pink sleepers.  Yaya is shopping and pacing and yearning to get my arms around that little bundle.  I want to smell her breath and her head and count her fingers and hum a little song into her ear. 

As new life unfolds, I give thanks (particularly since I'm not the one unfolding it).  I get to be the one holding it and for that I am truly grateful. 

I hope you have a day where you can celebrate good news with a friend - that you might see families come together, illness returned to health and life unfolding before you.  I hope your heart cries when you say good bye because it means you have let someone come in for a visit.  I hope you get to smell the pure sweet breath of new life and hold it gently as it nudges it's way into your heart.