Thankful

My mother died four years ago today... It was a sad day for all of us who knew her. But, looking back, I am thankful for all the good in the midst of the sadness of that last day.

Thankful that she spent only one day - a Sunday - in the hospital. We had seen her the night before in the nursing home. She had a fever. Was she coming down with a cold? I remember wondering. It was unusual for her to be sick.  Then at 5 am,nursing home staff called to say she had been sent to the hospital by ambulance. Her blood pressure was low and her heart was racing... We headed over to the hospital and were waiting in her room when she arrive back from tests...

I did not expect this to be her last day, so I was in shock...

But looking back now, I am appreciative of so many good things the day included:

• Because it was a Sunday, our son who lives in Ottawa was off work, so he was able to spend the day at the hospital with us. 
• One of my cousins (from Edmonton) was in town taking a course and (because it was Sunday) she wast able to spend a few hours at the hospital with us, too.
• I didn't say much to my mother because I had a hard time understanding her speech. (She wasn't wearing her dentures.) But when I called my brother and he spoke to her, her speech was clear. Later my two nephews phoned from Texas and she spoke (clearly) to both.
• One of our friends, who is a nurse, was working in a nearby ward. She dropped in from time to time...
• The hospital staff were kind and compassionate.

Now her ashes lie in a columbarium  niche in a church near our home, so we can visit whenever we want. 

She had regularly attended the weekly religious service that this church's pastoral team held in the nursing home. They knew her. They were her last church community. So it seems appropriate to me that her ashes have been laid to rest in a chapel in that community.