I knew at my visit on Monday that she was declining but as we learned with Daddy, you can’t be sure when it will happen. My sister visited that afternoon and also knew that the time was coming. We both saw that Mom was sleeping more – in fact, my sister found her in bed one afternoon. Mom had been a bit distressed so her aide thought she would be more comfortable in bed. As the week went on, she continued to decline.
The end finally arrived around noon today. It was a very fitting end.
Seventy-two years ago, my oldest brother was born while my Daddy was on board ship in WWII. Mom and Bobby spent the first couple years together, just the two of them, in northern Ohio where they had been living when Daddy left for the war. My grandparents lived in Cincinnati but Mom refused to move back because she and Daddy had made a home and he had a job to return to after the war.
After the war, they did move back some time after my sister was born and began their life on the farm where they eventually added my two brothers and me to the family.
We can move quickly through the wonderful years that came and went until 1986 when Daddy went into the nursing home and later that year, Mom moved in with my brother, Bob and his family. For the next 24 years Mom lived with her firstborn again, through the marriage of his children, the birth of his grandchildren and the passing of his wife, her daughter-in-law, and the Mom’s eventual descent into dementia.
On May 7, 2010 Mom came to live with me and you have shared my journey with her through my blog. You have listened as I talked about the decision in May 2011 to move her into a facility and all the things I have learned in these last five years.
It all came to an end today in a most fitting way. I was not there when she passed but I am thankful because I believe Mom’s life could not have ended more appropriately. My brother Bob was there with his family and she drew her last breath in his arms.
What could be more perfect than Mom being with him at the moment he drew his first breath and Bob being with her at the moment she drew her last.
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| This was taken moments before she passed. She was awake but obviously ready for the end. |
I thank all of you who have listened to my story and I hope, in some small way, the lessons I have learned have been helpful to you.
I am so sorry for your loss. I was truly heartbroken to hear of Grandma Burns passing. She was an amazing woman. With deepest sympathy to you and the family.
ReplyDeleteLove you all. Nicole Burns