Thursday, September 6, 2007

Pray for Aunt Tod and Alison...

I am wasted physically and emotionally – and completely sober. Life does that to us sometimes…

Aunt Tod is in Hospice and resting comfortably. Her right leg is moving again but her right arm is still useless and she can’t speak. She opened her eyes and acknowledged my arrival at lunch time, but quickly tuckered out and was asleep by the time I had been there three minutes, so I read the Bible to her a little (23rd Psalm and other passages) and then sang her a few songs. I only stayed 40 minutes, as I have a 60 minute lunch and still needed to eat and rest a wee bit before getting back in my chair at work. And today work feels like a slow-motion grind, which is unusual. I love my job. I’m just very, very weary. I need to get some serious sleep tonight. I’m glad tomorrow is Friday and that we have decided not to move Aunt Tod’s things out of Maple Creek this weekend. I need the time to recover – and prepare.

My Realtor wants to do an open house on Sunday afternoon. I may call that off – or not. I can go to Jackie’s when they have the open house, so it’s no big deal. I just don’t want to have to think about sprucing the place up again – although there isn’t much to spruce up. I just don’t want to deal with it this week. There’s enough to deal with.

Heard some devastating news from Alison Winter (Senorita Invierno). Her father was killed in a car accident in Paris on Tuesday afternoon, so she is dealing with getting his body returned to the UK and with the utter shock and desolation such an event brings into a daughter’s world. She just lost her mother to cancer two years ago. Please keep her in your prayers. I can’t even imagine what a shock it must be. I have lost all my loved ones over a span of time in which I knew they were going (even Dad, although he died suddenly: I knew in my heart I would never see him again when I kissed him goodbye at the airport that Thanksgiving vacation in Seattle in 99). In my opinion, losing someone slowly over a course of months or years is "easier" to deal with because there’s time to come to grips and say what needs to be said and to do what needs to be done. Losing someone in a heartbeat, unexpectedly, just has to be worse. I’m not sure how – there are disadvantages to both -- but I do think it must be worse.

None of it is any fun, that’s for sure…

Alison’s tragedy does serve in some way to put my Aunt’s imminent passing into better perspective. She’s 94 and lived a good life with a good man for 63 years. Alison’s father was 68 and had a lot of life ahead of him yet to live. Alison should have had him in her life a lot longer. My heart breaks for her.

Keep your loved ones – all of them – in your prayers. You never know what day they will leave here. That’s just a fact of life. We’re all going to die someday!

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