Sandy Humphrey

[The Husky @Mr_Husky1]

Nine years of working night shifts in hospice care taught me something I’ll never forget:

People nearing the end of their lives rarely ask for the things you’d expect.

Sometimes, they don’t ask for God. They don’t ask for miracles. Sometimes, they ask for something so small it breaks your heart.

Room 4 belonged to an 86-year-old man named Walter. He had lung cancer. His wife, Dorothy, had died in 2019, and he hadn’t had a single visitor in eleven days.

One night, around 2 a.m., he waved me over.

“Are you married?” he asked.

“No,” I told him.

He nodded slowly. “Then you probably don’t wear perfume.”

I smiled and told him I had some in my locker.

“What kind?”

“Nothing fancy. Just something cheap from the drugstore.”

He shook his head.

“Dorothy wore White Shoulders. Every night before bed. Not for church. For bed.”

He chuckled, but the laughter quickly turned into a coughing fit. When he finally caught his breath, he looked at the ceiling and said something I still think about.

“I used to tell her she was wasting it on me. She’d say, ‘The good stuff isn't for God. It’s for whoever has to look at you in the morning.’”

Then he smiled.

Not the polite smile people give strangers. The kind that belongs to someone remembering the best years of his life.

I finished my shift at seven that morning, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Dorothy.

So I drove to three different pharmacies until I finally found a bottle of White Shoulders. It was tucked on the bottom shelf, behind the nail polish remover.

$18.99.

That evening, on my night off, I went back to the hospice.

Walter was asleep.

I didn’t wake him. I sprayed a little perfume on the inside of his pillowcase, then sprayed a washcloth and gently folded it across his chest.

I sat beside him for a while.

He never opened his eyes.

But slowly, almost painfully slowly, his hand rose from the blanket. He reached for the washcloth and rested his palm flat against it.

Then he held it there.

His breathing softened. His face relaxed. For the first time in days, the tension seemed to leave his body.

I've watched many people die over the years. Nurses learn to recognize the moments when someone stops struggling against what is coming.

That night, I watched Walter settle into a memory that was bigger than the room he was lying in.

Maybe he was remembering Dorothy getting ready for bed. Maybe he was remembering the way she smelled when she climbed beside him. Maybe, for a few precious minutes, he wasn't an 86-year-old man dying alone.

Maybe he was simply a husband lying next to his wife again.

Walter passed away on Thursday morning.

Nobody came to collect his belongings.

His room was cleaned, his bed was remade, and eventually another patient moved in. The world kept going, as it always does.

But I never forgot him.

People think hospice care is about managing pain, administering medication, and making someone comfortable during their final days.

And yes, it is.

But sometimes, comfort isn't a medication.

Sometimes, it's a familiar song.
A voice you haven't heard in years.
A hand holding yours when the room goes quiet.
Or the smell of the person you loved most in the world.

We spend our entire lives building what we call home. We fill it with furniture, photographs, clothes, and all the ordinary things we barely notice until they're gone.

But when everything else is stripped away, home can become something incredibly small.

A familiar scent.
A remembered touch.
A voice saying your name.

Sometimes, home is the person you keep expecting to find beside you when you wake up.

And sometimes, when you can't bring that person back, the kindest thing another human being can do is help you remember them one last time.

I've worked nine years of night shifts in hospice care.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's this:

At the end of life, people don't always need someone to save them. Sometimes, they just need someone to remind them that they were loved.

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@TevinMacharia I use yoga for stretching only, s a little disagreement on that one.

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@aj_inapi Absolutely, well said!

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@Prolotario1 I pray so!

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@asiathemystic Same here!

[GINGERSKOL💜💛 @GlowSurfing]

ANOTHER HISTORY LESSON ON YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY CARD:
Just in case some of you young ones (& some older ones) didn’t know this. It’s easy to check out, if you don’t believe it. Be sure and show it to your family and friends. They need a little history lesson on what’s what and it doesn’t matter whether you are Democrat or Republican. Facts are FACTS.
Up until the 1980's, Social Security cards expressly stated the number and card were not to be used for identification purposes.
Since nearly everyone in the United States now has a number, it became convenient to use it anyway and the "NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION" message was removed.
Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. His promises are in black, with updates in brackets.
1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary [No longer voluntary],
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program [Now 7.65% on the first $90,000, and 15% on the first $90,000 if you’re self-employed],
3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year [No longer tax deductible],
4.) That the money the participants put into the independent ‘Trust Fund’ rather than into the general operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program [Under Johnson the money was moved to the General Fund and spent], and
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income [Under Clinton & Gore up to 85% of your Social Security can be taxed].
Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month — and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to ‘put away’ — you may be interested in the following:
Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent ‘Trust Fund’ and put it into the general fund so that Congress could spend it?
A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically controlled House and Senate.
Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?
A: The Democratic Party.
Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?
A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the ‘tie-breaking’ deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the US
AND MY FAVORITE:
Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?
A: That’s right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!
Now, after violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!
And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it! If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe changes will evolve. Maybe not, though. Some Democrats are awfully sure of what isn’t so — but it’s worth a try.
How many people can YOU send this to?

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@Prolotario1 Let’s go

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@ryanhallyall @DonnePetro It has been insanely hot and humid in Kansas for most of the past 30 days!

[Rob Cunningham @KuwlShow]

Dear America,

I believe the most enduring, failsafe solution to our fractionalized sovereignty and loss of personal agency is:

Individually sovereign people, voluntarily aligned with God’s immutable truth, joined through covenant - not controlled through coercion.

Its 10-Part Architecture is simple:

1 God is the Source - no human institution becomes the final authority over truth.
2 Conscience is the governor - each person remains morally responsible and cannot outsource accountability.
3 Consent is the boundary - legitimate authority is delegated, limited and revocable.
4 Family is the foundation - sovereignty begins with the person and household, not the state.
5 Subsidiarity is the structure - every decision remains at the smallest competent level.
6 Truth is independently verifiable - no priesthood, government, corporation, bank or algorithm monopolizes reality.
7 Honest weights and measures are the protocol - laws, money, records and judgments must reconcile openly.
8 Power is distributed - authority is separated, localized and subjected to continual inspection.
9 Property and privacy protect agency - no sovereignty exists without control of one’s labor, possessions, identity and lawful choices.
10 Restoration governs failure, wrongdoing is corrected through truth, restitution, forgiveness and reconciliation - not permanent domination.

Our failsafe is not flawless rulers, political parties, institutions or technology. Every centralized intermediary can be captured.

Our failsafe is a distributed order in which every person remains answerable to God, every institution remains answerable to the people, every claim remains answerable to evidence, and every exercise of power requires lawful consent.

God → Truth → Conscience → Consent → Covenant → Distributed Stewardship

When sovereignty cannot be involuntarily surrendered, secretly aggregated or permanently transferred, human agency can cooperate without being consumed.

One Creator. Immutable law. Sovereign people. Voluntary covenant. Verifiable truth. Distributed power.

Our Declaration of Independence promised us these 10 liberties.

@Freedom250 @BoardOfPeace @USTreasury @Interledger @X @POTUS @WhiteHouse

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@KuwlShow Absolutely agree!

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@dr_ericberg Oh my, just started eating them! I love them!

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@CMDRVALTHOR Mobility. Osteoarthritis in my left knee.

[Le Contemplateur @LeContempIateur]

🧠🚣 Je suis tombé sur la théorie du bateau vide et depuis je n’ai plus regardé les gens de la même manière...

Imagine que tu navigues tranquillement sur une rivière.

Soudain, un bateau vient percuter le tien.

Ton premier réflexe ?

La colère.

Tu lèves les yeux, prêt à insulter l’idiot qui vient de te rentrer dedans.

Mais tu découvres que le bateau est vide.

Personne à engueuler. Personne à accuser. Personne sur qui déverser ta colère.

Et presque instantanément, quelque chose change en toi.

Le choc est pourtant exactement le même. Ton bateau a été percuté de la même manière.

La seule chose qui a disparu, c’est ton besoin de trouver un coupable.

Cette vieille parabole attribuée à Zhuangzi m’a fait comprendre quelque chose d’assez vertigineux sur nos rapports aux autres.

Une immense partie de notre souffrance ne vient pas uniquement de ce que les gens nous font.

Elle vient de l’intention que nous leur prêtons.

Quelqu’un ne répond pas à ton message : il t’ignore.

Quelqu’un te coupe la route : c’est un connard.

Quelqu’un est froid avec toi : il ne t’aime pas.

Quelqu’un ne te salue pas : il te méprise.

Le problème, c’est que nous ne voyons jamais réellement ce qui se passe dans la tête des autres.

Alors notre cerveau remplit les trous. Et généralement, il les remplit comme il peut et souvent de la mauvaise manière.

On pense être le personnage principal d’une scène qui, parfois, n’avait absolument rien à voir avec nous.

Cette personne qui t’a parlé sèchement vient peut-être d’apprendre une mauvaise nouvelle.

Celle qui ne répond plus traverse peut-être quelque chose dont tu ignores tout.

Celui qui t’a coupé la route ne t’a probablement même pas remarqué.

Et ça ne signifie évidemment pas qu’il faut tout accepter ou excuser.

Ça signifie simplement qu’avant de laisser quelqu’un entrer dans ta tête et modifier ton état intérieur, tu peux te poser une question extrêmement simple :

Et si le bateau était vide ?

Depuis que j’ai compris ça, j’essaie de laisser davantage de bateaux passer.

Parce qu’on perd une quantité phénoménale de paix intérieure à combattre des intentions que nous avons parfois nous-mêmes inventées...

- Le Contemplateur

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@LeContempIateur So good!

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@nordiqa42645 Oh, sad to hear of your dog’s health. Take care!

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@SirCensorLot Oh, I pray so. I just want to be able to retire and live!

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@KuwlShow It certainly made me wonder!

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@TevinMacharia Beautiful. Did not know this!

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@Juliedonuts Happy birthday 🎊

[Sandy Humphrey @1958sassygal]

@libsoftiktok No Reagan on there.