Have you ever pretended to be someone else to get information you needed or wanted? I remember laying in the hospital knowing or believing I was going to get to go home that day and yet it was sneaking up on the afternoon already and nobody had come by. I so wanted to do what the woman in the following story did but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, it felt like being dishonest. “A Woman, calling a local hospital said, “Hello, I would like to talk to the person who gives the information regarding your patients. I’d like to find out if the patient is getting better, doing as expected or is getting worse.” The voice on the other end of the line said, “What is the patient’s name and room number?” She said, “ Sara Finkle, in room 302.” “I will connect you with the nursing station.””3-A Nursing station, how can I help you?” “I would like to know the condition of Sara Finkle in room 302.” Just a moment. Let me look at her records. “Oh yes, Mrs. Finkle is doing very well. In fact, she’s had two full meals, her blood pressure is fine and her blood work just came back as normal. She’s going to be taken off the heart monitor in a couple of hours and if she continues this improvement, Dr Cohen is going to send her home Tuesday at twelve O’clock.” The woman said, “Thank God!” That’s wonderful news.” The nurse said, “From your enthusiasm, I take it you must be a close family member or a very close friend!” “Not exactly. I am Sara Finkle in room 302, and nobody here tells me anything!” Sara Finkle never actually lied, she just didn’t tell the whole truth. How many times in our lives do we just not tell the whole truth, in order to get information we need? We want information that makes us feel good. Children are often chastised for exaggeration, embellishing stories or experiences they are telling about. Exaggeration is not just telling the truth, it’s telling more than the truth. Exaggeration has it’s good points. Just like not telling the whole truth, there are values in each – ‘sometimes’. While petting my little dog (overwhelmingly) I would often exaggerate everything. For example, I would be saying to her; “What a sweet little puppy! You are the sweetest little puppy in the whole wide world. How on earth did Heavenly Father make such a sweet little puppy and end up giving her to me – I must be the luckiest human being in the whole of Utah, to have you as my little puppy.” My voice would get a little higher with each sentence. Meanwhile, of course, the puppy is overwhelmed with pats and loves and squirming around in my lap hardly able to contain her licking. Sometimes she would let out little squeals and loving gestures and eventually she would be howling. There wasn’t any lying or deceiving there, just exaggeration, a sweet love session with a loving member of the family. Over the years, I have found that we are no different than pets or any other creature. We all need love and information about those we care about. Once in a while we need to be overwhelmed with it and that is a healthy thing. I have watched a familiar TV commercial showing children who are patients at Shriners or St. Jude’s Hospital. I have sometimes thought how I would like to grab one of them right out of the TV and do the same thing to them that I did to my pet doggie. Just overwhelm them with love. It would probably do more towards curing them than anything they can do or get at the hospital (possibly not). We have a family get together once every month and most of our family will be there, approximately 30 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren plus other close family. We all catch-up on what’s been happening in the family and before leaving we all manage to get hugs and to tell one another that we love them. After attending those family get togethers, I feel like my little dog, a little overwhelmed with loving attention. Before bed that night I think to myself, “I needed that!” How fortunate I am to have a loving and concerned family.` And I want to hold onto them all as long as I can, even while I can tell that things are starting to slip away from me. Somebody wrote; “Holding On: Hold on to all that is good, Even if it’s a handful of earth. Hold on to what you believe, Even if it’s a tree that stands by itself. Hold on to what you must do, Even if it’s a long way from here. Hold on to your life, Even if it’s easier to let go. Hold on to my hand.”