Redefining retirement for nurses: finding meaning in retirement 1st edition joanne evans 2024 scribd
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The New Rules of Retirement: Strategies for a Secure Future Carlson
“The authors did an outstanding job of selecting these nurses. The storytellers have so much to say about their own development and travels during their careers. They talk about their life experiences as nurses and their deep commitment to the profession. Redefining Retirement for Nurses is a superb collection of stories told by very special people.”
–Jean E. Steel, PhD, FAAN Professor Emerita, MGH Institute of Health Professions
“Evans and Tabloski have successfully woven a rich tapestry of narratives to bring to life the post-retirement journeys and pursuits of 26 nurses—journeys as diverse and inspiring as the nurses who so generously shared their career stories and thoughts about navigating a meaningful post-retirement transition. This book will stimulate reflection and self-awareness for creating new life balance and opportunities, regardless of where nurses are positioned in their careers. I highly recommend it.”
–Karen A. Daley, PhD, RN, FAAN Past President, American Nurses Association
“As almost a third of our nursing workforce is moving into retirement, this timely book brings a refreshing perspective. Hearing firsthand how retired nurses find personal satisfaction and continued significance in what Jane Fonda has dubbed the ‘third act’ of life is inspiring. The authors’ rich expertise is reflected in the introductory chapters and embedded in the framing of the diverse stories. Redefining Retirement for Nurses is a must-read book.”
–Jane M. Kirkpatrick, PhD, RNC-OB, ANEF Professor Emerita of Nursing, Purdue University Interim Head, School of Nursing, and Interim Associate Dean College of Health and Human Sciences
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The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1922 whose mission is advancing world health and celebrating nursing excellence in scholarship, leadership, and service. Members include practicing nurses, instructors, researchers, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and others. STTI has more than 530 chapters located at more than 700 institutions of higher education throughout Armenia, Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, England, Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malawi, Mexico, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Swaziland, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. More information about STTI can be found online at www.nursingsociety.org.
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ISBN: 9781945157332
EPUB ISBN: 9781945157349
PDF ISBN: 9781945157356
MOBI ISBN: 9781945157363
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Evans, Joanne, 1949- author. | Tabloski, Patricia A., author. | Sigma Theta Tau International, issuing body.
Title: Redefining retirement for nurses : (finding meaning after retirement from nursing) / Joanne Evans, Patricia A. Tabloski.
Description: Indianapolis, IN : Sigma Theta Tau International, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017040347 (print) | LCCN 2017040917 (ebook) | ISBN 9781945157349 (Epub) | ISBN 9781945157356 (Pdf) | ISBN 9781945157363 ( Mobi) | ISBN 9781945157332 (print : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781945157363 (mobi)
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017040347
First Printing, 2017
Publisher: Dustin Sullivan
Acquisitions Editor: Emily Hatch
Editorial Coordinator: Paula Jeffers
Cover Designer: Rebecca Batchelor
Interior Design/Page Layout: Trina Wurst
Principal Book Editor: Carla Hall
Development and Project Editor: Kevin Kent
Copy Editor: Erin Geile
Proofreader: Todd Lothery
Indexer: Larry Sweazy
Dedications
This book is dedicated to the many nurses who have shared their stories and to those who are interested in reading them. One cannot help but be moved by the dedication, inspiration, and caring inherent in each and every story. We thank all the nurses who came forward and allowed us the opportunity to retrace their life’s path and learn from their journey. It is an awesome responsibility to tell someone else’s story, and we truly appreciate the trust and confidence these nurses have placed in us.
–Patricia A. Tabloski and Joanne Evans
To my three children, Brent, Sam, and Rebecca, thank you for choosing me to be your mom and making this life journey as exciting and fun as it is!
–Joanne Evans
To Ted, Laura, Mike, Sam, Anna, and Charlie for their unwavering love and support.
–Patricia A. Tabloski
Acknowledgments
Joanne Evans
Let me begin by thanking my co-author Patricia Tabloski as well as her husband Ted. On one of my many trips to their beautiful home on Cape Cod, this idea moved from the idea phase to reality. Pat was able to corral my many ideas and thoughts and help bring them together for the book we will be sharing with you. Ted provided the extra editorial assistance that was invaluable.
Next, I would like to thank all the nurses who offered to share their “next phase” stories with us. We were only able to include 26, but appreciate the many others who offered to help and share their journeys. We know it was challenging to answer all our questions and then spend more time telling us their personal stories. And if that were not enough, these volunteer nurses shared all the challenges and benefits of transitioning into the next phase of a nurse’s life. Their information was eyeopening and invaluable.
It was only with the help of family and friends who provided the physical and emotional space for me that I was able to conduct the phone calls and write these stories. My house was on the market, and I had not moved into my RV during a major portion of the writing for this book. Thanks to my three children (Brent, Sam, and Rebecca) and their families for giving me time to write in their homes while they were all out working and dealing with the daily stresses of life. To my sister Janet Parker and her husband Bill, for the many nights in a comfortable bed and many healthy meals while I curled up on their couch writing and making phone calls. To Maureen and Rob Morrell for the long stretches of time that I became their regular houseguest and they allowed me to pretend their house was also mine. To Kathleen Yanks, and Claudia and Eric Zacharias for many wonderful meals and a quiet, relaxing environment in which to work.
To all of you I am eternally grateful, and please know you can join me anytime in my new RV home and I will take you on an adventure!
Patricia A. Tabloski
I wish to acknowledge the 26 nurses highlighted in this book. The inspiration to undertake this project grew out of a conversation Joanne and I had last summer on a crystal clear morning while sitting on the deck of my home on Cape Cod overlooking beautiful Nantucket Sound. We were chatting about some of our mutual friends who had recently retired and how they had transitioned into new ventures, using their nursing skills and expertise to enjoy life while making the world a better place. Joanne asked, “Do you think most nurses ever really just retire?” We decided to find out if any nurses would come forward and share their stories with us, and of course, they did.
I also wish to thank my husband, Theodore, for his patience, support, and encouragement. He has willingly provided editorial and technical assistance.
I would be remiss to not acknowledge Joanne Evans, who has worked tirelessly and patiently to find and recruit such interesting nurses. Joanne has used her excellent interpersonal skills developed from her long career in mental health nursing to obtain the information needed to tell these stories.
About the Authors
Joanne Evans, MEd, RN, PMHCNS-BC
Joanne Evans has been a nurse for over 45 years and credentialed as a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist since 1976. She retired from her full-time position as Assistant Director of the Credentialing Knowledge Center at the American Nurses Credentialing Center in 2014. In that role, she provided education, nursing, business, and international conference programs and content expertise with respect to the organization by establishing product lines in education, including workshops, manuals, conferences, and web-based learning for national and international nursing communities. Prior to that, she held positions in leadership, education, and administration in several organizations and also had extensive clinical experience. She is also owner of Healthy Nurses … Healthy Communities® and lectures nationally on plant-based nutrition. She is certified in plant-based nutrition by eCornell and is on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. She authored an article in Journal of Holistic Nursing titled “Plant-Based Nutrition: Will Your Next Prescription Be for the Farmers Market or the Pharmacy?” and co-authored “Nurses Experience for Themselves the Benefits and Challenges of a Plant-Based Diet” in American Journal of Nursing. She has traveled internationally for healthcare missions, volunteers on a regular basis for local community groups, and serves on advisory boards for organizations. She is a member of the American Nurses Association, the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists, and the American Holistic Nurses Association.
Evans travels the United States in her RV, spending time with her three adult children and their families, three grandchildren, and friends, and also continues with some professional work and volunteering.
Patricia A. Tabloski, PhD, GNP-BC, FGSA, FAAN
Patricia Tabloski has committed her career to the teaching, practice, administration, and research of gerontological nursing since 1978. She presently serves as Associate Professor at the William F. Connell School of Nursing at Boston College. She has served as Principal Investigator on two HRSA-funded Advanced Nursing Education Palliative Care Grants and has authored four editions of her textbook, Gerontological Nursing, published by Prentice Hall. Her program of research examines nonpharmacological measures to improve pain and detect delirium in hospitalized older adults after elective surgery. Tabloski has lectured nationally and internationally and is a Fellow in the Gerontological Society of America and the American Academy of Nursing. Additionally, she has worked closely with the American Nurses Credentialing Center and conducts gerontological nursing certification preparation courses and prepares review materials and computer-based narrated presentations.
Although old enough to retire, Tabloski continues to enjoy her teaching responsibilities at Boston College. She also engages in volunteer work in her community, including serving as board Secretary to the Sudbury Council on Aging and Executive Vice President of the BayPath Area Agency on Aging.
Tabloski also enjoys her family, and she and her husband, Ted, live happily in close proximity to their daughter, Laura, son-in-law, Michael, and grandchildren, Sam, Anna, and Charlie.
The Ultimate Matchmaker: Randee Bloom, Michigan ......................64
Hispanic Nurse Pioneer and Trailblazer: Rose Marie Rodriguez Caballero, Texas ...........................................................................72
#not1dayofregret: Lois L. Kercher, Virginia .......................................78
Taking the Next Step: Ann L. Komelasky, Virginia ............................85
A Lifetime Commitment to Caring and Service: Elaine McGrane Olmstead, Massachusetts ............................................................92 Conclusion ........................................................................................97
5 FAMILY AND TRAVEL: Engaging, Reengaging, and Working on Your “Bucket List”
The Power of a Mentor: Madlyn Belcher, Maryland .......................101 Learn, Laugh, Love, Leave a Legacy: Ann Evans, Colorado ..........107
Cultural Trailblazer and Nurse Educator: Hector Hugo Gonzalez, Texas ..........................................................................................114
Embarking on a Journey to Uncharted Territory: Susan Heath, Washington .................................................................................120
Once a Nurse, Always a Nurse: Betty D. Morgan, Massachusetts ...............................................127 Conclusion ......................................................................................132
6 NEW VENTURES: Risk-Taking, Skating on Thin Ice, and Now for Something Completely Different!
A World of Travel, Caring, Passion, and Service: Shirlee P. Davidson, Tennessee ..................................................134
An Unexpected Twist to Well-Made Plans: Catherine Dischner, Pennsylvania ..............................................................................140
From Candy Striper to RV’er!: Joanne Evans, Greater USA ...........146
On the Verge of New Beginnings: Sandra Seidel, Tennessee ........152 Now Solo and Enjoying the Journey: Kathleen Keating Yanks, Florida ............................................................................158 Conclusion ......................................................................................163
7 ALL OF THE ABOVE: Yes, It Is Possible to Have It All! . .
An Amazing Journey to Becoming a Nurse: Verlia M. Brown, New York.............................................................................................166
A Career With Passion for Preparing Nurses to Shape the Future: Sheila A. Haas, Wisconsin ..........................................................170
Native American Pioneer Nurse: Marcella LeBeau, South Dakota ...175
Mentor, Leader, Consultant, Executive: Robert V. Piemonte, Massachusetts ...........................................................................180
Not Retiring, Rewiring!: Mary C. Smolenski, Florida.......................185
Man of Many Firsts in Nursing: Russell “Gene” Tranbarger, North Carolina ............................................................................191 Conclusion ......................................................................................196
8 PLANNING FOR A LONG, FULFILLING RETIREMENT
Decide approximately at what age you would like to stop working. .........................................................................199
Decide if you want to age in place or plan to relocate to a new living situation. ...................................................................201
Consult with a financial advisor or savvy financial friend to examine your finances. ..............................................................202
Examine your current health status. ..............................................202
Begin to investigate post-retirement volunteer and service opportunities. ............................................................................203
What about hobbies? Maybe it’s time to start, if you haven’t. .......204
Are you interested in indoor hobbies? ...................................205
Or maybe your interest is geared toward outside hobbies? ..205
Make a list of all the accomplishments you have achieved during your work years. ..............................................................205
Share your knowledge and expertise on healthcare. .....................206
Travel—when, where, and with whom? ..........................................207
Friends, friends, and more friends. ................................................209
Become more connected to the universe. .....................................209
Possessions and clutter. ................................................................210
Keep your mind active. ..................................................................211
Last but not least, enjoy yourself. . .................................................211
Foreword
This is an exciting time to be a nurse. Our profession is evolving and growing at a rapid pace in response to an ever-changing healthcare system, advances in science, new theories of caring, and application of knowledge into evidence-based practice. I have no doubt that these changes affect the way nurses and midwives perceive their work and career choices, including their decision to retire. Although this book is primarily focused on North America, the concepts and principles apply globally to everyone planning to retire now and in the future.
After leaving the job market, we need to redefine and expand our ideas and expectations regarding retirement because most of us will have many more productive years in our lives. Many people equate retirement planning with financial planning. While essential, a financial plan is only one part of a retirement plan. The nurse who has spent his or her lifetime in service to others and has found satisfaction in that work will face a major life transition and need to choose activities to fill this unstructured time with zest and meaning. Some will choose to work part-time or engage in professional consultation, while others will change venues to business or education, volunteer, travel, or pursue new hobbies and pastimes. The thoughtful retiree is advised to choose wisely, balancing the need for meaningful engagement with sufficient time for self, recreation and enjoyment, and personal fulfillment.
I began my career as a pediatric nurse and have served as a faculty member and university administrator. I have been privileged to serve as CEO of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) since November 2007 and as President during the 1999–2001 biennium. As I now transition to my own retirement, I have had the opportunity to contemplate several issues discussed in this book. I have happily engaged in planning and look forward to the benefits of retirement, such as more time for my family and myself. Like many nurses in this book, I also plan to remain active in various volunteer and consultative roles to continue to promote the issues I feel passionately
about, including global health and advancement of international nursing leadership, scholarship, and professional development.
This book offers retired and soon-to-be retired nurses valuable insights into the process of self-assessment and guidance while charting a life transition path that is logical and consistent with goals and ideals in their professional careers. The authors identified 26 nurses who have generously told their stories, shared their personal challenges and triumphs, and offered guidance to those contemplating retirement.
As you read this book, I hope you will also share your passion and realize the pleasures of continued commitment to improving the lives of others while preserving time for yourself and enjoying your retirement.
Nurses and midwives deserve the opportunity to engage in a long and enjoyable retirement. The challenge for all of us is to plan early and consistently throughout our careers, so we can realize our retirement goals. The transitional boundaries between work and retirement can sometimes be challenging, but with patience and attention to self, the rewards can be bountiful.
–Patricia E. Thompson, EdD, RN, FAAN Chief Executive Officer Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International
Introduction
“Youth is a gift of nature, but age is a work of art.”
–Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (2017), there are over 3 million nurses in the United States, and approximately 1 million will be retiring in the next 5 to 10 years. You may be one of them. Because of demographics and the aging of the baby boomers (8,000–10,000 a day for the next 14 years), many readers of this book may be contemplating their own retirements in the not-too-distant future (Cilluffo & Cohn, 2017). Some approach the retirement decision with fear, avoidance, and denial, while others plan fastidiously and count the remaining days until the moment they are freed from work responsibilities. As with all things in life, there is no “typical” way to retire, and there is no onesize-fits-all, evidence-based best practice plan to approach retirement. Sure, the basics are known, including advice to stay active and engaged, maintain your health and stay fit, and avoid financial ruin by spending your money frugally, making sure to plan for a long life. According to the Social Security Administration, the average 65-year-old man today can expect to live to be 84.3 years old, and the average 65-year-old woman will live on average until the age of 86.6 years (2017). That’s nearly 20 years for a man and nearly 22 years for a woman. These years are a significant chunk of a person’s life, and often our planning and resource allocation for these years is overlooked or deferred until the very last moment. These years have the potential to be the “frosting on the cake” years, with many of the stresses and challenges of youth and middle age behind us and the vision of rest and relaxation on the horizon. The successful person pre-retirement has hopefully earned all degrees, successfully launched the children, set aside some money to maintain his/her lifestyle, and achieved a degree of self-confidence and comfort within his/her own skin. However, one must wonder if nurses face additional challenges in retirement. Does retirement from a lifelong career of caring, commitment, and service to others encourage higher self-expectations and a continuing need to find meaning?
Most nurse retirees have been very successful in their professional careers and contributed immensely to society in a wide variety of roles, including direct care, administration, research, and education. When facing retirement, many nurses assume “second careers” taking on parttime or volunteer opportunities with the goal of continuing to be relevant and have an opportunity to engage in meaningful work. Others wish to travel to exotic places or plan nothing specific but engage in trips without an end date. Others yearn for an extra moment lingering over a cup of coffee, not having to drive to work on a snowy day, or visiting the corner store or deli in their own neighborhoods. Others have definite plans, but health challenges and family obligations emerge, and as the saying goes, “The best laid plans ….” Our stories depict the personal journeys of nurses organizing and re-organizing their personal lives.
This book will provide information for nurses to dream large and expand their ideas of “retired life” by inspiring and informing readers regarding opportunities that may be available, as well as change their current thinking of “retired life” after a full professional career. Gone are the days of stereotypical retirement with older folks sitting in a rocking chair and waiting for time to pass. We present stories from 26 retired nurses and describe the different paths they have chosen after their retirement from full-time positions. We highlight the stories of a diverse racial and ethnic sample of nurses who are geographically distributed throughout the world. We have attempted to use exact quotes whenever possible to accurately depict the sentiment portrayed by our storytellers. We have listed their credentials exactly as they have provided them to us in order to reflect their state or national licensure, academic degrees, and certifications. Through their stories, these nurses describe how they have continued to contribute to society and leverage their talents as well as take on new ventures post-retirement building on the skills developed in their primary employment. The skills and achievements gained through life experiences form the foundation for development of a wide range of new opportunities for a meaningful transition into retired life.
By sharing inspiring personal stories, these nurses will serve as role models for others, including the newly retired or those planning for future retirement. By highlighting these stories, newly retired nurses might find new interests that they may have deferred during their professional careers, such as starting a business, enjoying informed travel, serving as a volunteer or mentor, or developing new skills and hobbies. We have highlighted the positive by sharing stories of nurse colleagues who have aged successfully and are now reaping the rewards of a successful nursing career. Although written by nurses of a “certain age,” they depict the life journeys of men and women representing various racial and ethnic groups, and their stories illustrate how events that occurred early in their careers have profoundly influenced their life trajectories. These stories depict ordinary and extraordinary human experiences and provide insight into some of the ways nurses face retirement.
Some of the stories we share in this book clearly describe challenges that threatened to derail any and all retirement plans. As is typical of nurses, each challenge was addressed with strength, competence, and caring. Some of our nurses faced personal health challenges, loneliness, feelings of loss and separation from former lives, family caregiving responsibilities, and financial worries. Yet our storytellers do not wallow in self-pity or brood over loss. Instead, these challenges evoke the spirit of caring and joy of life that are branded into the souls of nurses. Nearly all our nurses recall events early in their careers when they were caring for seriously ill patients who were downtrodden and often mired in the direst circumstances, yet they persevered with strength and dignity. They often state that these experiences transformed them, providing a rock-solid foundation upon which to construct a meaningful human life.
Of course, once one has chosen to live a meaningful life, it becomes somewhat of a habit. One cannot just “turn off” the desire to care for others, avoid seeking satisfaction from helping others, or decline to mentor or guide young people who are considering entering our profession. However, how can one best put these skills to good use? What opportunities are the most meaningful and rewarding? How does one balance the
desire to continue to do good with the challenges of physical aging, time commitments to friends and family, and, most of all, joy and self-renewal?
Our book starts with two introductory chapters depicting pertinent issues related to aging, health, purpose, and meaning. At the end of the book, Appendix A has resources for those seeking further information to plan and guide their own journeys. The bulk of our book is devoted to the personal stories of our 26 retired nurses. These stories are compelling and we hope illustrative of the service, hope, commitment, and challenges faced by people who have enjoyed successful careers and have progressed into retirement. We hope these stories enhance your understanding of the issues other nurses have confronted and perhaps will serve as guides for those who are or will soon be in similar situations. The goal of this book is to share stories, enhance understanding, and perhaps promote and encourage positive action in others. We are, after all, nurses. It’s in our DNA, and for most of us, our drive to make a difference will be with us until the last beat of our hearts. So, let’s enjoy the journey!
References
Cilluffo, A., & Cohn, D. (2017). 10 demographic trends shaping the U.S. and the world in 2017. FACTANK: News in the Numbers. Pew Research Foundation. Retrieved from http://www. pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/27/10-demographic-trends-shaping-the-u-s-and-theworld-in-2017/
Kaiser Family Foundation. (2017). Total number of professionally active nurses. Retrieved from http://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-registered-nurses/?currentTimeframe=0&sort Model=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D
Social Security Administration. (2017). Calculators: Life expectancy. Retrieved from https://www.ssa.gov/planners/lifeexpectancy.html
Aging and Retirement 1
Have you heard? Someone has written a book about nurses’ retirements. That’s likely to spark one of two reactions:
• Some will say, “How boring! Can you imagine an entire book about nurses sitting around in rocking chairs with knitting needles in hand?”
• Others who have perhaps cast off the traditional stereotypical thinking about retirement may say, “Oh, here we go again. Another book about older people going into their second childhoods and busying themselves sky diving, running marathons, and espousing that retirement is the best time of their lives.”
Well, this book is neither. Our goal is to present stories that illustrate the ways that human experiences vary and advance that there is not a one-size-fits-all standard definition of a “good retirement.”
As nurses we have been through many life-altering transitions. We have all attended school, and many of us have gone on for advanced degrees; some have taken time off from their careers to care for children and aging parents or travel extensively. Most lives consist of an interwoven pattern of school, work, travel, and recreation that occurs in no particular order. Sometimes these transitions are gradual, such as the launching of children, and other times more abrupt and immediate. Retirement can be viewed as another one of life’s major transitions.
NURSE STORIES BEGINNINGS AREN’T JUST FOR NEW NURSES
I remember the first day I reported to work as a brand new graduate nurse. I was walking down the hall wearing a brand new white uniform, white hose, and spotless polished shoes, when one of the patients called out, “Nurse, can you come here for a minute?”
I immediately responded, “Yes, I’ll go get the nurse for you.” That’s when I noticed the puzzled look on the patient’s face and looked down at my feet and saw the white hose and shoes. I was shocked to realize that the nurse was me and I immediately felt a sense of joy, accomplishment, and wisdom. The patients, my teachers, my charge nurse, my family, and society at large had granted me the power and authority to go forth into the world and provide care for patients. I will never forget that seminal moment, and to this day I continue to feel that my work with patients and students is an awesome responsibility and a rare privilege that not everyone can enjoy. This sentiment is echoed in the stories told by our retired nurses. Retirement is a new beginning, the start of new opportunities, for so many of them.
Nurses often relate that early in their careers they cared for extremely impoverished or seriously ill patients who exhibited strength, dignity, and perseverance under extreme duress. Bearing witness to the human struggle can be empowering, and such experiences can serve as a lifelong lesson for a young nurse just beginning professional practice. While many Americans live to middle age without experiencing the
death of a family member or close friend, nurses often experience the death of a patient during their student experiences or early careers. This experience can be profound, and the understanding that unanticipated illness and death can occur at any stage in life often serves to underscore the perspective that life can be brief and health can be fleeting. Nurses understand that it is best to live fully in the moment and enjoy all that life has to offer. Rather than serving to foster a sense of doom, life’s uncertainty can reinforce the value and richness of each day, and carrying this perspective forward can help to define post-retirement life with an ongoing sense of meaning and purpose.
Why do people choose to become nurses? We know that Florence Nightingale felt she was called by God to help the poor and sick. She established educational standards and raised the status of nurses to that of a “respectable profession.” Some of the reasons for choosing nursing cited in our nurses’ stories include:
• Having been a patient or having a family member who received excellent nursing care
• Having a nurse in the family (mom, older sister)
• Possessing a passionate desire to help others
• Stumbling into it
• Receiving guidance from a mentor or advisor
• Just being in the right place at the right time and enjoying a fortuitous opportunity
There are lots of reasons to become a nurse, and our book highlights nurses with long (often over 40-year) and successful nursing careers. Our stories are about nurses who have excelled in their work and made significant contributions to society in general and to their patients in particular. To these retirees who have successfully become and remained nurses, retirement may mean many things (both positive and negative), including perhaps loss of title, loss of income, loss of daily interaction
with valued colleagues, and loss of opportunity to engage in activities that bring purpose and meaning to life. However, positive changes may include increased time for self, opportunities for reengaging with family and friends, and beginning or resuming informed travel and volunteer opportunities. (See Table 1.1.) It is not just a transition from full-time work to full-time leisure. Rather, retirement is a major transition to a new phase in life. These are the stories we are highlighting in our book.
TABLE 1.1 Retirement: Losses and Gains
Loss of titleGains in time for self
Loss of incomeReengagement with family and friends
Loss of daily interaction with valued colleagues Informed travel and volunteer opportunities
Loss of opportunity to engage in activities that bring purpose and meaning to life
Freedom to engage in new professional ventures
The New Realities of Retirement
The old patterns and rules of retirement are obsolete now. In the past, most people had predictable work/life patterns. We usually began by attending school until the age of 22ish, worked until we turned 60ish, and retired with a gold watch and a desire for rest, relaxation, and enjoyment of life.
We now have a more integrated model with work, school attendance, raising a family, and travel occurring simultaneously or scheduled sequentially to meet our professional and personal needs and wishes. By the time retirement age comes to us, many of us have lived full, rich lives and have the relevant experiences to envision a meaningful and enjoyable life in retirement.
Aging is an inevitable and steadily progressive process that begins at the moment of conception and continues throughout life. The life or
aging process is artificially divided into stages including antepartum, neonate, toddler, child, adolescent, young adult, middle age, and older adult. The final stage of life, called old age (this term usually applies to those over the age of 65), can be the best or worst time of life and requires work and planning throughout all of the previous stages to be a successful and enjoyable period.
Most people do not consider the issues related to aging and retirement during their childhood and youth or middle age unless they have reason to contemplate certain milestones. However, as we get older, we might begin to dread our own aging because of the perception that disease, disability, and decline are inevitable consequences of the aging process and that retirement triggers the beginning of the period of decline. Everyone has heard the story of the person who retires on Friday and by Saturday afternoon has died as a result of a massive heart attack or some other catastrophic health event. Stories like this frighten us all and may cause some to fear retirement and perhaps delay it as long as possible, thinking the continuation of paid work offers some protective amulet against death or disability. Negative stereotypes are difficult to erase, and some continue to think “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” when it comes to flexibility in aging. Unfortunately, these stereotypes of aging limit opportunities to enjoy retirement and may tend to segregate retirees from mainstream society, potentially causing feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Some wonder if we are living longer or living better. Nurses above all others recognize the risks of poor health and rise in prevalence of chronic illnesses that can occur in older age. However, this linkage is not inevitable. What concerns most nurses is not only the prospect of a long life but also the prospect of enjoying a healthy long life. The goals expressed by most of the retired nurses who contributed to our book included plans to engage in a healthy lifestyle, provide time for regular exercise, and remain or become socially engaged with challenging and meaningful activities.
With the decline in mortality rates and the increases in life expectancy, two views on living longer have emerged:
• The first suggests it is logical to expect that there will be an increase in the rates of chronic diseases such as cognitive impairment, heart disease, and cancer and concomitant disability as more people live to advanced old age.
• An alternate theory is that with extended life, a healthy lifestyle can result in a compression of morbidity, with most people living longer, healthier lives and succumbing quickly to death at advanced older age without long periods of suffering and disability.
Going by the first theory might lead to the conclusion that by delaying retirement beyond the usual age of 65, the retiree risks having fewer years of healthy life for travel, enjoyment, and volunteer ventures. But going by the second theory and retiring at an earlier age, the retiree risks possible financial challenge because less money will be earned and saved or invested and should the retiree be lucky enough to live to extreme older age, he/she may face late-life poverty. Thus, the dilemma and need each person has is to weigh the risks and benefits and make the best decision.
Only one of the nurses we spoke to reported that she was forced to retire by a mandatory retirement policy in her country. She expressed feelings of sadness and loss because she felt the policy was unfair and arbitrary. Generally, the retirees who have had control over their retirement decision have had the time to mentally prepare and plan for an enjoyable retirement.
Retirement offers multiple opportunities for leisure, travel, and recreation, and with changing social norms, many now view retirement as a legitimate time for consumption of leisure as a lifestyle. However, the retired nurses in our book also described a need for engagement in meaningful and fulfilling activities and continued or renewed social activism.
The new realities of aging reflect our understanding that a healthy and productive retirement is now possible for growing numbers of older Americans. For those older nurses who are fortunate enough to enter into retirement in relatively good health, retirement is a reward and a time to be treasured and enjoyed. Some of the benefits of healthy aging coupled with a successful career include a privileged retirement with benefits including increased acceptance and self-understanding, less reliance on the approval of others, possession of a plethora of healthy coping skills, and enhanced creativity and confidence. Karpen (2017) defines the privileged situation of the “fortunate 20%” of retirees: those possessing a higher education degree, an uninterrupted work history spanning 40-plus years, an income that has increased gradually over a lifetime, and being married. Not all of the nurses’ stories highlight married people, but most have shared that they have relied on support from lifelong friends and love of family.
NURSE STORIES
FINANCIAL PLANNING AND FRUGAL LIVING
Nearly all have extolled the benefits of financial planning and habits of frugality, leading to a sense of security and satisfaction with the accomplishment achieved at the conclusion of a long and successful career. Most of our stories include retired nurses who are reliant on all three of the potential financial resources of retirement: Social Security benefits, pensions, and personal savings and investments. Financial planners recommend avoiding pre-retirement mistakes to “get retirement right” (Kane, 2013). Some common mistakes nurses and others can make during their work years may include:
• Working without a goal. Estimate how much money you will need after retirement. A good rough estimate may be planning to replace 70% of your former income with savings, Social Security, pensions, and investments.
• Procrastinating. Start saving for retirement on your first day of work. Even a small investment taken automatically from your paycheck can add up to a significant investment over the years. Begin early to get into the habit of saving.
• Taking on new debt as retirement becomes closer. Buying a large home with a mortgage, a new boat, or scheduling an around-the-world trip may bring you pleasure but may be a major drain on your savings account. Try to balance “here and now” spending with a plan to meet your future needs.
• Being an uninformed saver. Does your employer provide any match to your contributions to a 401(k)? Have you investigated various tax incentives to saving and investment? Should you change jobs can you roll over and consolidate your various retirement accounts?
• Putting family needs before your own retirement. It’s a delicate balance and most nurses would gladly offer to help adult children, aging parents, and other family members without regard for their own financial situation. Open discussions with family members can help set realistic goals and support wise decision-making that is balanced and can support those in need without setting back your own retirement by years.
Additionally, retirement offers the time to “reconnect” with old ambitions and desires that were put aside during the work years. This may include learning (or relearning) to play a musical instrument, spending more time with family, reconnecting with old friends, and perhaps allowing time for enjoyment such as lingering over a second cup of coffee on a snowy winter morning.
The goal for retired nurses is not only to live a long life but also to enjoy a high quality of life. We have high expectations and deservedly so. After years of caring for others and often living life at a frenetic pace, the opportunity for leisure and recreation may be very enticing. Many nurses have stated that although they continued to love their jobs and their patients, they felt the pressures of a changing healthcare system with increased emphasis on productivity, administrative oversight, and cost reductions leading perhaps to cutting corners. Some of these pressures necessitated changes affecting patient care that many were not willing to make or endorse. Some retired nurse educators and administrators worried that their students or patients would not receive the high-quality education or care that we once took for granted and felt they could no longer work under the mandates of these new systems. As a result, for some the retirement decision came earlier than anticipated.
Retirement is not any one experience. Don’t fall into the trap of looking at retirement only one way. A person’s retirement will vary as much as his/her career has varied. There is no “one size fits all” model.
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Abraham.—“But in that country there are many hills; which shall I ascend?”
The voice of God.—“A mountain on which shall rest my Glory; there shall it be told thee further what thou must do.”
Abraham prepared to fulfil the command of God, but he dreaded the separation between Sarah and her son. If he took Isaac away secretly, then he feared that, in the excess of her distress, she would do herself harm. At last he decided on this course; he went to Sarah’s tent, and he said to her, “My dearest, prepare this day a little banquet, that in our old days we may rejoice our hearts.”
Sarah answered, “Wherefore this day, my husband? Are you about to lose anything this day?”
Abraham said, “Think, my wife, Sarah! how good God has been to us; therefore it behoves us to thank Him all the days of our life.”
Sarah did as Abraham had commanded.
As they sat and ate, Abraham said, “Thou knowest well, dear wife, that I knew the One true God from the time that I was three years old. Isaac is older, and it behoves him to know more of the law of God. Therefore I design to take him with me to Shem and Eber, our ancestors, who live not far from here, that they may instruct him. Hast thou anything to object to this, Sarah?”
She answered, “No; do that which is pleasing in thine eyes; only let not Isaac be away too long, for thou knowest how precious the sight of him is to me.”
Then Sarah put her arms round her son, and kissed him, and they parted with many tears; and she exhorted Abraham to have great care of the youth, that the journey might not be too great for him.
Next morning, very early, Abraham rose, and he saddled the ass himself, though he had many slaves, for he was eager to be gone, and to go where the Lord called him. This was the ass, born of the she-ass created by God on the eve of the sixth day, upon which Moses afterwards rode when he went to Egypt;[327] it is the ass which
spake to Balaam, and it is the ass of which the prophet Zechariah has spoken, that on it Messiah shall ride.[328]
This ass was of a hundred colours.[329]
Sarah clothed Isaac in the garment that Abimelech had given her, and placed a jewel-studded fillet about his head. She provided the travellers with food for their journey, and accompanied them with her maids, till Abraham bade them return. Then she clasped Isaac once more to her breast, and said with tears, “God be gracious to thee, my son; how know I that I shall see thee again?”
Abraham had two to accompany him, Eliezer and Ishmael; he had cut fig and palm wood and made a faggot. On the way this discourse took place between Eliezer and Ishmael.
Ishmael said, “I perceive clearly that my father is about to offer Isaac as a whole burnt offering; therefore I, his eldest son, will inherit his possessions.”
But Eliezer said, “That is false: I am his trusty servant! Did not thy father drive thee away from home? He will leave all to me.”
Whilst they thus spake, there came a voice from heaven, “O ye fools! neither of you knows the truth.”
Abraham in the meantime walked forward. Then came Satan to him in the form of an old man bowed upon a staff, and said to him, “Whither goest thou?”
He answered, “I go to offer up my prayers.”
“Wherefore this knife, and fuel, and fire?” asked Satan.
“I take them in case we have to spend much time on the mountain, that we may bake bread and slay beasts.”
“Old man, thou deceivest me,” said Satan. “Was I not by when a voice bade thee slay thy son, thine only son; and now, what art thou about to do? Thinkest thou that thou shalt have another son, now that thou art a hundred years old? Art thou then about to cut down with thine own hands the main pillar of thy tent, the staff on which thou mayest lean in thine old age? Knowest thou not the proverb,
‘He who destroys his own goods, how shall he get more?’ That was not the voice of God, it was the voice of the Tempter, and thou didst listen to it. Dost thou think that God, who promised to make of thee a great nation, and to bless all generations through Isaac, would thus persuade thee to make void His own promises?”
Abraham answered, “No, it was not the Tempter who spake, it was the voice of God; therefore I will not hearken to thy words, but walk on still in mine uprightness.”
“But if God were to ask of thee some further sacrifice, wouldst thou grant it?”
“Of a truth would I,” answered Abraham.
“Thy piety is folly,” said Satan impatiently. “To-morrow God will punish thee for this murder thou art about to commit, since thou wilt shed the blood of thine own son.”
But when Satan saw that Abraham was not to be moved from his purpose, then he took the form of a blooming youth, and joined himself to Isaac, and asked him the object of his journey.
Isaac replied that he was going to receive instruction in the law of the Most High.
“Art thou going to receive this instruction living or dead?” asked Satan, scornfully.
Isaac.—“Can a man receive instruction after he is dead?”
Satan.—“O thou son of a mother much to be pitied, knowest thou not that thy father is leading thee to death?”
Isaac.—“Nevertheless I shall follow him.”
Satan.—“Then all the tears and prayers of thy mother, beseeching Heaven to grant her a son, end in this! All the pains and grief in childbearing! All the afflictions she laid on Hagar and Ishmael! All the care she has taken of thy youth! All the love she has expended upon thee! All these things for nothing!”
Isaac.—“As my father wills.”
Satan.—“Then the inheritance passes to Ishmael. How he will glory in being the first-born, and his mother Hagar will despise Sarah, and maybe will drive her out!”
Isaac.—“I obey the command of my father and the will of God, be they what they may.”
But these words were not without some effect on Isaac. With piteous voice he urged his father to suspend or delay what he had undertaken. But Abraham exhorted his son not to listen or give credence to the words he had heard, for they were the temptations of Satan, to draw him from the path of obedience and the fear of God.
They went a little further and came to a broad stream. Abraham, Isaac, and their followers sought to wade it; the water at first reached their knees, but when they were in the middle, it rose to their necks. Abraham, who knew well the spot, and that there was neither brook nor river there by nature, recognized this as a deception of Satan, to divert them from the right way. He told Isaac that this was his opinion, and raising his eyes to heaven he prayed: “Thou, O Lord, didst declare to me Thy will, that I should take Isaac my son and offer him to Thee in pledge of my obedience. I did not hesitate, I did not refuse, and now the water overwhelms us and we sink; how then can I perform that which Thou badest me do?”
The Lord answered, “Fear not, through thee shall My Name be known.”
Then the stream vanished away, and they stood upon dry land.
But now Satan made another attempt to turn Abraham from his purpose. He drew him aside and said, “The object of thy journey has failed. I caught a whisper in heaven, and it was this—God will prepare a lamb for the sacrifice, and not thy son.”
Abraham answered, “Even if thy words be true, it matters not; for this is the penalty of liars, that when they speak the truth they are not believed.”
Abraham journeyed on the rest of that day, without seeing his appointed place. Next day he retraced his steps, but could find no signs of the place. The Almighty had so ordered it, that men might not say Abraham was hasty and acted precipitately, but might see that he had leisure and time for reflection on what he was about to do.
On the morning of the third day,[330] they reached the height of Zophim, and thence Abraham saw a beautiful mountain-land, and on the top of one of the mountains was a fiery pillar, which reached from earth to heaven,—it was the Glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
When Abraham asked Isaac if he beheld this sight, he answered that he did so; but when he asked his other companions, they replied that they saw nothing save the brown hills and purple valleys. Some say they answered that one hill was to them like every other hill.
From this, Abraham concluded that God was well pleased with Isaac as a victim. Then he said to Eliezer and Ishmael:
“Tarry ye here with the ass, for you are not worthy to behold the Shekinah nearer. But I and the youth will go on, so many only shall go.”
Now, as he said these words, it suddenly came to his mind that God had promised him a great people descended from Isaac, so many as the stars for multitude, and with prophetic voice he said, “If the Lord will, so many as go on, so many shall return.”
Then Abraham laid the wood of the sacrifice on his son Isaac, and took the fire and the knife in his hand; and they went on both together, Abraham joyous, and Isaac without fear or thought.
But after they had gone some way, Isaac turned to his father and said, “Father, whither are we going alone?”
Abraham.—“My son, we go to offer a sacrifice.”
Isaac.—“But art thou a priest to execute this undertaking?”
Abraham.—“Shem, the High Priest, will prepare the victim.”
A great fear fell upon Isaac when he saw that they had no animal with them to offer, and he said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is a lamb for the whole offering?”
Abraham.—“The lamb which is to be offered is foreknown to the Almighty. He will provide the lamb; and if none other is here, then must thou be the offering, my son.”
Isaac was silent, for the fear of death came over him. But presently he recovered himself and said, “If God chooses me, I place my soul in His hands.”
Abraham.—“My son! Is there any blemish in thee within? For the offering must be without blemish of any sort.”
Isaac.—“My father! There is none. I swear by God and by thy life, that in my heart there is not the least resistance to the Divine will. My limbs do not tremble, and there is no quaking at my heart. With gladness do I say, The Lord be praised, who has chosen me for a whole sacrifice.”[331]
Abraham.—“O my son, with many a wish wast thou brought into this world. Since thou hast been in it, every care has been lavished on thee. I hoped to have had thee to follow me and make a great nation. But now I must, myself, offer thee. Wondrous was thy coming into this world, and wondrous will be thy going out of it![332] Not by sickness, not by war, but as a sacrifice. I had designed thee to be my comfort and stay in old age; now God himself must take thy place.”[333]
Isaac.—“It were unworthy of thee were I to think to withstand the decree of God, and of thee. Had the decision been thine alone, I would have obeyed.”
When they reached the top of Moriah, God said to Abraham,—
“This is the place where once Adam, when driven out of Paradise, built an altar to My name. Here also Cain and Abel offered their sacrifice. Then came the Flood, and when it was passed away, Noah offered victims to Me here. When the people were scattered from the tower at Babel, then this altar was overthrown. Now it is for thee, friend of God, to set it up again!”
Abraham built the altar, and Isaac brought him the stones. But, according to some authors, this was not so. Abraham hid his son in a cave, lest Satan should take advantage of the opportunity, with a stone or clod of earth, to blemish him.
And when all was ready and the wood laid in order, then Isaac said to his father, “Bind me hand and foot, lest in the fear of death I start and thou wound me, and so I be blemished. Fold thy garments together, and gird thy loins, and bare thine arm, and strike me with the knife and then burn me to ashes, and lay up my ashes in a coffer, and let this coffer be preserved as a memorial of me in thy house, before my mother; and when thou passest by it, bid her remember me. But remind her not of it near a well, or on the edge of a precipice, lest she cast herself down in her grief.”[334]
And he continued, “When thou returnest home, how wilt thou console my mother?”
Abraham answered, “Well I know that He who comforted us before thou earnest, will comfort us after thou art gone from us.”[335]
Abraham now stood over his son, who was bound with his hands to his feet, upon the wood laid in order; and the eyes of Abraham rested on the eyes of his son. But Isaac looked up into heaven, and saw the angel hosts crowded about God’s throne. Abraham saw not this, and he lifted the knife; but he trembled and the knife fell from his hand, and he cried aloud, “O my son! Would that another offering were found instead of thee! But my help cometh only from the Lord who hath made heaven and earth!”
Then he gathered up his resolution, and took the knife and held it once more to strike; and Isaac’s spirit left him, and he swooned away.
But the angels of God, who stood round about His throne, announced to the Most High all that took place, and they cried and wept, and even the fiery seraphim exclaimed, “Woe! He slays his son.” And the tears of the angels fell upon the face of Isaac, and made him ever after sad of countenance.
Then God said, “Behold, and see how great is the faith of My servant Abraham, how on earth a man can hallow My great name, and devote his best and dearest to My service; see that, ye, who at the creation exclaimed, What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou so regardest him?”
Then He ordered Michael to fly swiftly, and stay the hand of Abraham.
And the archangel, when he came near, cried aloud, “Abraham! Abraham! what doest thou?”
Abraham looked in the direction of the voice, in doubt, and said, “Here am I.”
Then said the angel, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him.”
And Abraham said, “Who art thou?”
Michael told him who he was. Then said Abraham, “The Most High appeared to me in a vision, and bade me take my son as a whole offering to the place which He should say, and I may take no command from a servant of God, against that which God Himself hath laid upon me.”
Then heaven opened, and he saw the glory of God, and God said to him, “Touch not the lad to do him harm, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me.”
And Abraham said, “How is this, O Lord! that Thou changest Thy purpose, and sayest one day, Do this, and the next, Do it not?”
And the Lord answered, and said, “I said not unto thee, Slay the lad as a burnt offering, but I said, Take thy son to the place that I shall tell thee, as a whole burnt offering. This hast thou done; thou hast fulfilled My command, I exact no more of thee. I change not My purpose, but I did suffer thee to misunderstand the purport of My command, and to think that I exacted more of thee; and this I did to prove thee. And now, by Myself have I sworn; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.”
Then Isaac revived, and Abraham cut his cords, and he stood up and said, “Praised be the Eternal One, who quickeneth those that be dead.”
And Abraham turned to the Shekinah and said, “Lord! how shall I depart hence without having offered to Thee a sacrifice?” The Lord answered, “Lift thine eyes, and thou shalt see a beast for sacrifice behind thee.”
In the thicket of the wood was that ram which God created at dusk on the sixth day, that it might serve this purpose. An angel had brought it out of Paradise, where it had lived since its creation, and had fed under the shadow of the Tree of Life, and had drunk of the River that there flows. And when the ram was brought into this earth, all the earth was filled with the fragrance from its fleece, on which hung the odours of the flowers on which it had lain in Paradise.
But by Satan’s fraud, the animal was frightened and strayed away, and Abraham tracked it by its foot-prints. Then Satan decoyed the beast behind some bushes and entangled its horns in the thicket; and Abraham would have passed by, and not seen it, but the ram caught him by his cloak. So Abraham slew it, and offered it in sacrifice, and sprinkled with its blood the altar he had made.
Now the Last Trumpets that shall sound, the one to call the just, the other the unjust, are made of the horns of this wondrous ram.
11. THE DEATH OF SARAH.
Sarah,—who, as we have seen, accompanied Abraham and Isaac part of the way to Moriah,—on her return to the tent, found an old man awaiting her. It was Satan.
He greeted her with profound respect, and asked after her husband and son.
She answered that they had gone forth on a journey.
“Whither have they gone?” asked Satan.
“My lord has gone to visit the school of Shem and Eber, our grandsires, there to leave my son Isaac to be instructed in the law of God.”
“Alas! alas!” exclaimed the Apostate Angel; “thou art greatly deceived.”
Sarah was alarmed; and she asked wherefore he spake thus.
“Know then,” said Satan, “that Abraham has gone forth with Isaac to sacrifice him, upon a mountain, to the Most High.”
When she heard this, Sarah laid her head on the bosom of a slave, and fainted. When she came to herself she hurried with her maidens to the school of Shem and Eber, and inquired after her husband and son, but they had neither seen nor heard anything of them. So Sarah was convinced that what had been told her was true, and there was no spirit left in her.
Now when Satan knew that Abraham was bringing back his son, and that God had accepted the will for the deed, he was moved with envy and spite, and he could not rest to think of the joy that this would cause; so he went hastily to Sarah, and she was weeping in her tent, and sorely cast down and broken in spirit. Then he said suddenly to her, “Thy son liveth and is returning. God hath spared him!”
And she rose up and uttered a cry, and fell, and was dead; for the joy had killed her.
Abraham and Isaac in the meantime had returned from Moriah, and they sought Sarah at Beer-sheba, but she was not there; therefore they went to Hebron, and there they found her corpse. Isaac fell weeping upon the face of his mother, and he cried, “Mother, mother! why hast thou forsaken me? why hast thou gone away?”
Abraham wept aloud, and all the dwellers in Hebron wept and lamented over Sarah, and ceased from their labours, that they might mourn with Abraham and Isaac. Sarah’s age was one hundred and seven-and-twenty years, and she was as fair to look upon when she died as in the bloom of her youth.
And as Abraham was bowed over the body of his wife, he heard the laugh of the Angel of Death, and his words, “Wherefore weepest thou? Thou bearest the blame of her death. Hadst thou not taken her son from her, she would have been alive now.”
Abraham sought a place where to bury her; and he went to the Hittites and asked them to suffer him to buy for his possession a parcel of land, where he might bury one dead body. But they said, “Nay, we will give thee land;” but he would not. So they said, “Choose now a place where thou wouldst have thy sepulchre, and we will entreat the owner for thee.”
Then Abraham said, “I desire the double cave of Ephron the son of Zohar. If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath; for as much money as is worth he shall give it me, for a possession of a burying-place amongst you.”
And this was the reason why Abraham desired that cave. When he had gone after the calf, to slay it for the three angels that came to him before the destruction of Sodom, the calf had fled from him, and he had pursued it into this cave; and on entering it, he found that it was roomy, and in the inner recesses he saw the bodies of Adam
and Eve laid out with burning tapers around them, and the air was fragrant with incense.
The Hittites elected Emor their chief that he might deal with Abraham, for it did not become a chief and prince, like Abraham, to deal with an inferior; and Emor said in the audience of the people of the land, “My Lord, hear me; the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee; bury thy dead.”
But this he said with craft, for he sought to take an advantage of Abraham.[336]
Then Ephron said, “Put thine own price upon the land;” but this Abraham would not do.
Then Ephron said to Abraham, “My lord, hearken unto me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.”
Now the land was not worth half that sum, but Emor said in his heart, “Abraham can afford to pay it, and he is in haste to bury his dead out of his sight.”
Nevertheless, Abraham paid him in the sight of all his people. And the transfer of the land and cave was signed by Amigal, son of Abischna the Hittite; Elichoran, son of Essunass, the Hivite; Abdon, son of Ahirah, the Gomorrhite; and Akdil, son of Abdis, the Sidonian.
Machpelah (double cave) was so called, because, say some, it contained two chambers; or, say others, because Abraham paid double its value; or, say others, because it became doubly holy; but others again observe, with the highest probability, because Adam’s body had to be doubled up to get it into the cave.
Because the Hittites dealt honourably, and sought to procure a place for Abraham, where he might lay Sarah, their name is written ten times in the Holy Scriptures.
They took also an oath of Abraham, that he and his seed should never attack their city Jebus with violence; and they wrote his promise on brazen pillars, and set them up in the market-place of
Jebus. Therefore, when the Israelites conquered Canaan, they left the Jebusites unmolested.[337] But when David sought to take the stronghold of Jebus,[338] its inhabitants said to him, “Thou canst not storm our city, because of the covenant of Abraham, which is engraven on these pillars of brass.”
David removed these brazen pillars, for they were in time honoured as idols; therefore the inhabitants of Jebus were hated of David’s soul;[339] but he did not break the covenant of Abraham, for he obtained the city of Jebus, not by force of arms, but by purchase.[340]
Sarah was buried with the utmost honour; Shem (Melchizedek), his grandson Eber, Abimelech, Aner, Eshcol and Mamre, together with all the great men of the land, followed the bier. Abraham caused a great mourning throughout the country to be made for seven days. After that, Abraham returned to Beer-sheba, and Isaac went to be instructed in the law by Melchizedek. A year after, died Abimelech, king of Gerar, and Abraham attended his funeral. Soon after, also, died Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
12. THE MARRIAGE OF ISAAC.
After the death of Sarah, say some, Abraham had a daughter named Bakila, by Hagar, who returned to him now that her enemy was dead; but, according to others, the great blessing of Abraham consisted in this, that he had no daughters. Ishmael abandoned his disorderly ways, and loved and respected his brother.
Isaac mourned his mother three years. When this time was elapsed, Abraham called to him his faithful servant Eliezer, and said to him, “I am old, and I know not the day of my death; therefore must I no longer delay the marriage of my son Isaac. Lay thine hand upon my thigh, and swear to me by God Almighty to fulfil my commission. Do not take for my son a wife of the daughters of the Canaanites, but go to Haran, to the place whence I came, and bring thence a wife for my son Isaac.” And he added the proverb, “When you have wheat of your own, do not sow your field with your neighbour’s corn.”
Eliezer asked, “But how, if a woman of that place will not accompany me hither?”
But Abraham said, “Fear not; go, and the Lord be with thee.”
So the servant of Abraham went with ten camels, and he reached Haran in three hours, for the earth fled under the feet of his camels, and Michael, the angel, protected him on his way.
When he reached Haran, he besought the Lord to give him a sign, by which he might know the maiden who was to be the wife of Isaac. “Let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also; let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac.”
And there were many damsels by the fountain. And the servant said to them, “Let down the pitcher that I may drink.” But they all said, “We may not tarry, for we must take the water home.”
Then came Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, out to the well, and she chid the
maidens for their churlishness; and lo! the water in the well leaped to the margin, and she let down her pitcher and offered it to the man, and said, “Drink; and I will give thy camels drink also.” Then Eliezer leaped from his camel, and he brought forth his gifts, and he gave her a nose ring with a jewel of half a shekel weight, and bracelets of ten shekels weight. And he asked if he might lodge in her house one night.
She answered, “Not one night only, but many.”
Now Rebekah’s brother, Laban, so called from the paleness of his face,—or, say some, from the cowardice of his breast, which made him pale,—coveted the man’s gold, and resolved to kill him. Therefore he put poison in the bowl of meat which was offered him. But the bowl was changed by accident, and it fell to the portion of Bethuel, and he ate, and died that same night.
And Laban would have fallen upon Eliezer with his own hand, but that he saw him lead the two camels at once over the brook, and he knew thereby that he was stronger than he.
After the engagement had been drawn up, as is written in the first book of Moses,[341] Eliezer urged for a speedy departure. Mother and brother consented, but on the following day they asked that, besides the seven days of mourning for Bethuel, they should tarry a year, or at least ten months, according to the usual custom. But Rebekah opposed them, and said that she would go at once.
It was noon when Eliezer and his retinue, together with Rebekah and her nurse Deborah, left Haran, and in three hours they were at Hebron.
At the self-same time Isaac was abroad in the fields, returning from the school of Seth, lamenting over his mother, and saying his evening prayer. Rebekah saw him with his hands outspread, and his angel walking behind him, and she said, “Who is that with a shining countenance, with another walking behind him?”
At the same moment she knew who it was, and with prophetic vision she saw that she would become the mother of Esau, and she trembled and fell from the camel.
Isaac took Rebekah to wife and led her into the tent of Sarah, and the door was once more open, and the perpetual lamp was again kindled, and it seemed to Isaac as if all the happiness that had gone with Sarah, had returned with Rebekah, so he was comforted for his mother.
Eliezer was rewarded for his faithful service, for Abraham gave him his freedom, and he was taken into Paradise without having tasted of death.
13. THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM.
Abraham, after the death of Sarah, had brought back Hagar, and she was called Keturah, which signifies “the Bond-woman,” and this she was called because she had ever regarded herself as bound to Abraham, though he had cast her away. But others say that Keturah was not Hagar, but was a daughter of one of Abraham’s slaves. She bare him six sons,[342] all strong, and men of clear understandings.
According to Mussulman traditions, she was the daughter of Jokdan, and was a Canaanitish woman.
Abraham said to the Most High, in gratitude of heart, “Thou didst promise me one son, Isaac, and thou hast given me many!”
All his substance he gave to Isaac; but some say he gave him a double portion only, and the rest he made over to his other sons. And to Isaac only he gave the right to be buried in the cave of Machpelah, and along with that, his blessing. But others say that he did not give his blessing to Isaac, lest it should cause jealousy to spring up between him and his brothers. He said, “I am a mortal man; to-day here, and to-morrow in the grave; I have done all I can do for my children, and now I will depart when it pleases my heavenly Father.”
He sent the sons of Keturah away, that they might not dwell near Isaac, lest his greatness should swallow them up; and he built them a city of iron, with walls of iron. But the walls were so high that the light of the sun could not penetrate the streets, therefore he set in them diamonds and pearls to illumine the iron city.
Epher, a grandson of Abraham and Keturah,[343] went with an army into Libya and conquered it, and founded there a kingdom, and the land he called after his own name, Africa.
Abraham was alive when Rebekah, after twenty years of barrenness, bare to Isaac his sons, Esau and Jacob; and he saw them grow up
before him till their fifteenth year, and he died on the day that Esau sold his birthright.
The days of his life had been 175 years; he reached not the age of 180, to which Isaac attained, because God shortened his life by five years, lest he should know the evil deeds of Esau.
The Angel of Death did not smite him, but God kissed him, and he died by that kiss; and because the sword of the angel touched him not, but his soul parted to the kiss of God, his body saw no corruption.
This is the Mussulman story of his death. The Angel of Death, when bidden to take the soul of the prophet, hesitated about doing so without his consent. So he took upon him the form of a very old man, and came to Abraham’s door. The patriarch invited him in and gave him to eat, but he noted with surprise the great infirmity of the old man, how his limbs tottered, how dull was his sight, and how incapable he was of feeding himself, for his hands shook, and how little he could eat, for his teeth were gone. And he asked him how old he was. Then the angel answered, “I am aged 202.” Now Abraham was then 200 years old. So he said, “What! in two years shall I be as feeble and helpless as this? O Lord, suffer me to depart; now send the Angel of Death to me, to remove my soul.” Then the angel took him,[344] having first watched till he was on his knees in prayer.[345]
Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the double cave by the side of Sarah; and he was followed to his grave by all the inhabitants of Canaan, and Shem and Eber went before the bier. And all the people wailed and said, “Woe to the vessel when the pilot is gone! woe to the pilgrims when their guide is lost!”
A whole year was Abraham lamented by the inhabitants of the land; men, and women, and young children joined in bewailing him. Never was there a man like Abraham in perfect righteousness, serving God, and walking in His way from the earliest youth to the day of his death.
Abraham was the first, say the Mussulmans, whose beard became white. He asked God when it became so, “What is this?” The Lord
replied, “It is a token of gentleness, my son.”
XXV.
MELCHIZEDEK.
We have seen that, according to Jewish traditions, Melchizedek is Shem, the son of Noah, whom God consecrated to be a priest for ever, and who set up a kingdom on Salem.[346]
It is also said that, before he died, Lamech ordered his son, Noah, to transport the body of Adam to the centre of the earth. Now the centre or navel of the earth is Salem, afterwards called Jerusalem. Lamech also bade Noah confide to one of his children the custody of the body of Adam, obliging him to remain all his life in the service of God, and in the practice of celibacy, never to shed blood, and to offer to God only the sacrifice of bread and wine.
Noah chose, according to some, Shem; according to others, Melchizedek, the son of Shem. He did not suffer him to wear other garments than the skins of beasts; nor to shave his head nor cut his nails, nor to build a house.
A Christian tradition is that Adam was buried on Golgotha, and that when Christ died, His blood flowed down upon the head of Adam, and cleansed him of his sin.
Dom Calmet, in one of his dissertations, gives various curious opinions which have been entertained on the subject of Melchizedek: some affirmed that he was identical with the patriarch Enoch, who came from the Terrestrial Paradise to confer with Abraham; and others, that the Magi who adored the infant Christ were Enoch, Melchizedek, and Elias.
