{"id":454,"date":"2022-06-14T15:35:11","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T15:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/?p=454"},"modified":"2023-05-30T20:54:17","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T20:54:17","slug":"the-journey-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/the-journey-home\/","title":{"rendered":"The Journey Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"454\" class=\"elementor elementor-454\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-117ff29 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"117ff29\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-89c9b72\" data-id=\"89c9b72\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b1b4e05 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"b1b4e05\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.20.0 - 10-04-2024 *\/\n.elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px}<\/style><h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Inspiration<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b1b6241 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b1b6241\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.20.0 - 10-04-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p>When my wife Laurie and I moved to California over thirty years ago our first friends were Kirsten and Ted. Thirty years later we were at her bedside as she was dying. We were part of their family, and we were together for almost every holiday meal or family get-together. In these last days we would visit her in her home, hospitals, convalescent and memory care facilities five to six times a week. Our visits amounted to my wife talking to her and reminding her where she was and and how we loved her. At each and every visit Kirsten would request for me to play my ukulele and sing her favorite Christian songs and always ending with Amazing Grace. In her last couple of days I woke up once again at 2:11 a.m. and wrote this poem.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-ddb0dc8 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"ddb0dc8\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-e2445c2\" data-id=\"e2445c2\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e9b303a elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"e9b303a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Journey Home<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8e2b1a3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"8e2b1a3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">by Joseph Sorrentino<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b14cd67 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"b14cd67\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Message from a friend entering eternity<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9661113 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"9661113\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>I hover over myself below<br \/>Its my Last Dance with death<br \/>Caregivers running around like ants at a picnic<br \/>Trying to change the course of life<\/p><p>Memories of my favorite songs playing<br \/>Not a harp or refined sweet voice<br \/>But an off-key expression of love<br \/>With a worried smile trying to give me joy<\/p><p>The songs are like a soft breeze kiss<br \/>Sent by God to stage my last breath<br \/>I can feel the tips of my toes turning to dust<br \/>As the gates of heaven open<br \/>It&#8217;s like an eternal climax materializing<br \/>And I smile to watch the adversary below<br \/>He\u2019s far behind looking up with disgust<br \/>As he watches my embrace in the arms of Christ<br \/>My unspoken words to you<br \/>There\u2019s a place for eternal love<br \/>Don\u2019t get discouraged in your world<br \/>It will pass, and you can see the new me<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Inspiration When my wife Laurie and I moved to California over thirty years ago our first friends were Kirsten and Ted. Thirty years later we were at her bedside as she was dying. We were part of their family, and we were together for almost every holiday meal or family get-together. In these last&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/the-journey-home\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Journey Home<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[207],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460,"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions\/460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/josephsorrentino.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}