Here we go again, Mom, Dad, and me. We are back in the car heading south on route 322 our destination is the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. After so many times of “doing this routine” the sights and sounds of this trip are all too recognizable.

Approaching the Eisenhower Interchange in Harrisburg is definite sign we are soon to arrive at the Hospital; that God awful place. My curt choice of words is because my Nana is a patient in the hospital, in that awful place, and she is alive, but not living.

The visitation schedule has made my mind slip into auto pilot. I approach the glass entrance, walk about 25-yards, turn right and take the stairs, and at the landing turn left and there it is the second floor Critical Care awaiting area. Then it hits me; the smell of ailing people, sterilized equipment, and utter despair, it hangs heavy in the air.

I take a deep breath and exhale. Then I muster the courage to walk through the door that separates me and my Nana. Tubes, hoses, wires, and a respirator are the equipment that is keeping my Nana clinging to life. As I stand at her bed side fighting back tears and stroking her arm that is swollen from excessive amounts of fluid, I question “Is she living?” Do I want my Nana to live like this?

Medicine is a wonderful profession and physicians and nurses can perform procedures that are almost miraculous. However, the healthcare providers tell me and my family that my Nana’s brain is dead. Her situation is a result of complications from a massive stroke she experienced after surgery to her spinal column. In my incomplete understanding of the human body and medicine I am cognizant that although she is alive, she is not living. At her side I reflect on the decision that her husband, children, and I as part of the family must make, should a machine keep her alive?

Decisions of life and death are heart wrenching. By human nature we are selfish. My selfish side says keep her here with us, her family! But, the selflessness in me says let her go. Let her go home to Heaven where I believe Jesus is waiting to welcome her and she can truly begin living!

The life and death decision was made. Her respirator along with her tubes, hoses, and wires were removed from her lifeless body. Then on April 1, 2000 she shut eyes to the world and opened them in Heaven and once again began living! Now eight years later reflecting on her death I am able to see the courage of a family that allowed someone they loved so dearly to stop suffering and once again be alive and living!

E. Faye Lucas "Nana" - March 24, 1922 – April 1, 2000

Easter has its share of traditions: egg decorations and hunts; gift baskets and chocolate bunnies, sunrise church services and and, of course, the Easter Lily. For many, the beautiful trumpet-shaped white flowers symbolize purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life these are the spiritual essence of Easter.

The 24th chapter of Luke reads:
1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6He is not here; he has risen!

If you are of a different faith, I still believe that Easter can be a time of spiritual renewal – new spiritual life as spring returns to nature each year.

I, like many people I suppose, get a "spring itch." That feeling that spring time is just around the corner and winters' worst is behind us.

Tiny signs of spring are all around if we are attentive. . . Today, I noticed a small patch of green grass and a few tulip leaves poking out of their winter beds and I was happy - truly happy!! Those small yet significant signs made me smile. Because I know, that soon, I will be leaving the house without being saddled by a bulky winter coat and my toes will be free to wiggle in sandals rather than being cramped and crowded in "fashion boots!"

On Thursday, March 20, 2008, at precisely 1:48 A.M. EDT the sun will cross directly over the Earth's equator - spring has arrived!

The Have’s and the Have Not’s

While on vacation near West Palm Beach, Florida, I was struck at the wealth that was all around me. From the oceanfront mansions in Palm Beach, the sleek yachts docked on the Intracoastal Waterway and the dozens of gated communities from Jupiter to Boca Raton.

According to the U.S. Census Bureaus, median income for a household in the city is $36,774, and the median income for a family is $42,074. These figures represent the full time residents and most likely, not the world traveling millionaires that are sprinkled about the gated communities.

In contrast, I traveled though the town of Pahokee on my way to see Lake Okeechobee. Pahokee is a city located on the shore of Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Rather than seeing palm tree lined streets and well manicured lawns, I encountered poverty; visible poverty that caused me to pause and say “Can people really live in there?” The per capita income for the city is $10,346. 32.0% of the population and 29.4% of families are below the poverty line. http://www.pahokeeflorida.com/local/cityinfo.html

I was taken aback at the dichotomy in the varying degrees of financial ability in two towns that are just 40 miles apart. . .

While channel surfing, I stopped to view a “reality series” on MTV, titled My Super Sweet Sixteen. The premise of the “show” is parents succumbing to the whining wishes of their spoiled children. Parents agree to throw a mega-birthday bash, with a luxury car included. These coming of age parties for sixteen year-olds would rival social gatherings thrown by million dollar celebrities.
Gone are the days of celebrating with a few close school friends at your parent’s house. Eating a Duncan Hines cake with store bought ice cream and your decorations consisted of a few balloons. The fallacy is that parents are being “good” to their children by lavishing them with excess. Moms and Dads willingly allow their child to create VIP rooms and then the birthday boy or girl ostracizes other party goers because of their social status. What is the lesson being communicated by parents? Allowing these types of behaviors only reinforce the self-centered attitudes that can exist in the teenage years.