Some of you may have heard of a country singer named Kenny Chesney.

The following is a chorus from one of his less know songs, “Better Boat”.

🎶🎵🎵🎵🎶 “I breathe in, I breathe out, Got friends to call who let me talk it about what ain’t working, what’s still hurtin', all the things I feel like cussing out. Now and then, I let it go, I ride the waves I can’t control. If it’s working, I don’t know, when I get done, the thing may not float, But I’m learning how to build a better boat.” 🎶🎵🎵🎵🎶 

It has a beautiful, calming melody as well as the beautiful message about grief, loss and change. I listened to it repeatedly with one of my early onset Alzheimer's clients. Even though she was nonverbal at the time, I could see how much the song meant to her.

She was riding waves she couldn’t control but she accepted it with an amazing grace and seemed to truly understand that she was still building her boat. She also knew that she had loved ones around to support her and understand when she felt like cussing things out.

My experience with her and many others nearing the end of the journey has taught me that we are still learning from each other right to the last breath we take. And everyone I have worked with helped me to better my boat. I can only hope that I did the same for them.