There is an older couple that lives around the corner from us. My wife visits with them once or twice a month, usually taking our rambunctious 5yr old boy with her. They’re the nicest people you’ll ever meet… it seems she is always working on a quilt for someone, and he will always play with our son or entertain him in some way while the women are talking.
When my teenage daughter was in a car accident a year and a half ago, this wonderful woman made her a beautiful quilt to comfort her and help her through her recovery… an act of kindness that moved my daughter to tears.
She is hooked up to oxygen during the winter months… a garden variety of ailments has slowed her down of the past several years.
Just before Christmas, her kidneys stopped functioning. She told us “This is my last Christmas, and I’m NOT going to the hospital until AFTER our family Christmas party!” A few days after Christmas, and ambulance came to the house and picked her up… symptoms of a pending heart attack. She was discharged from the hospital a few days later and put into an assisted living facility, where she was receiving dialysis for her kidney failure.
Yesterday, she decided to discontinue dialysis, giving her - at best - two to three weeks of life remaining. Her husband, whose sole purpose in life was to take care of his lovely wife, has quit eating… and is wasting away.
I’ve never seen a purer love between husband and wife, nor a better example of absolute devotion to each other. She will pass from our world soon, and he will be right behind her… having lost his will to stay.
I will sorely miss their wonderful, kind presence in our lives. While two more lights will go out in this world, I’m grateful for my belief that they will be together in a far better place… far beyond the grasp of age, sickness and all other mortal frailties.
When my teenage daughter was in a car accident a year and a half ago, this wonderful woman made her a beautiful quilt to comfort her and help her through her recovery… an act of kindness that moved my daughter to tears.
She is hooked up to oxygen during the winter months… a garden variety of ailments has slowed her down of the past several years.
Just before Christmas, her kidneys stopped functioning. She told us “This is my last Christmas, and I’m NOT going to the hospital until AFTER our family Christmas party!” A few days after Christmas, and ambulance came to the house and picked her up… symptoms of a pending heart attack. She was discharged from the hospital a few days later and put into an assisted living facility, where she was receiving dialysis for her kidney failure.
Yesterday, she decided to discontinue dialysis, giving her - at best - two to three weeks of life remaining. Her husband, whose sole purpose in life was to take care of his lovely wife, has quit eating… and is wasting away.
I’ve never seen a purer love between husband and wife, nor a better example of absolute devotion to each other. She will pass from our world soon, and he will be right behind her… having lost his will to stay.
I will sorely miss their wonderful, kind presence in our lives. While two more lights will go out in this world, I’m grateful for my belief that they will be together in a far better place… far beyond the grasp of age, sickness and all other mortal frailties.
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