The last handshake
There are moments when a Notary does not simply enter a home, a hospital room or a hospice to receive a will. He enters the final chapter of a person’s life.
Over the course of my professional life, I have had many experiences of this kind. People fully aware that their time was drawing to an end have called me not only to put their affairs in order, but also to entrust me with their final wishes, their last thoughts and, at times, their final messages for their families.
What I remember most about those moments is the silence. A different kind of silence, made up of carefully chosen words, glances and emotions that needed no explanation.
I would sit beside the bed, listen without hurry and try to transform into a legally sound will what came from the heart. In those moments, the law inevitably gave way to humanity. The person came first. The legal instrument came afterwards.
When everything had been completed, the will signed and every doubt answered, the same thing would often happen. That person would take my hand. It was not a formal handshake. It was a gesture of trust. Almost a farewell.
In their eyes I would see a new sense of peace, as though the burden they had carried through their final days had finally become lighter. More than once, only a few days later, I learned that the person had passed away.
I have never thought that a Notary accompanies someone towards the end of life. I do believe, however, that at certain moments a Notary has both the privilege and the responsibility of helping a person leave this world with greater peace of mind, knowing that their wishes, their affections and their values have been entrusted with precision to those who will have the duty to preserve and respect them.
It is one of the lesser-known aspects of the notarial profession. And it is also one of the most profound. Whenever I think back to those hands held in mine, I realise that, before drawing up a will, I had simply shared a moment of life.
Perhaps this is the greatest lesson my profession has taught me. Behind every legal instrument there are people. And behind every signature there is a story that deserves to be heard with respect, discretion and humanity.
