Beneath the Wraps

          A week ago yesterday mom was discharged from the hospital A week ago yesterday I drove her home – her actual house.   She wanted me to take her to the one in her mind. A week ago yesterday I drove her to my house where we waited for Nate (my nephew) to come get her and take her to her real home.   A week ago she was still distorted and not satisfied with where she was. A week ago today my brother Patrick and his son-in-law Nate moved some of mom’s furniture.   A week ago today my sister-in-law Sunny and our friend Becky helped pack clothes. A week ago today unbeknownst to my mom, she spent her last day in the house where she started a new life with dad and raised all four of her children. A week ago today my sister Kayla took my mom to the doctor.   A week ago today, Patrick and Sunny and their daughter Ellen rearranged mom’s furnitu...

          Many people are upset by death or have a lack of understanding.  It’s really hard when it is children whose lives have been claimed before they have much of an opportunity to live.  Or a young parent with children still in diapers.           Many believe that death is the end.  It is when the Spirit no longer needs the body.  Death is the end of mortality – but not the end of existing on earth in a human sense.  The Spirit lives on and has the opportunity to reunite with loved ones who have already passed on.           Roland started off last month attending his sister’s funeral.  Her death was very unexpected – but I’ve learned to handle sudden death rather graciously, I think.  I have seen too many spend their last years dying – and that, for me personally, is a lot more difficult to handle. ...

My dad had had a series of strokes later in life.   Some of them were so “small” that they went undetected.   The first one I remember had temporarily paralyzed the left side of his jaw.   Not realizing the magnitude of what was happening, we made jokes about it. Because he was such a quiet man, we commented that his jaw was sliding off his face as he never used it. It eventually returned to his normal appearance.   It wasn’t until later on that we learned his downward jaw had been the result of one of the strokes he had had. Dad started keeping odd hours.    He’d be awake while the rest of us were asleep and vise-versa.    He was in need of care 24-7 and it became too overwhelming at times.    We were told that the insurance he had would not cover a live-in aide – but they did have a list of nursing homes.    We did our best to avoid it, but it finally got to the point that we needed assistance.    I don’t kn...

         When our boys were 12, 13, and 15 I got pregnant.   I know the exact date, too.   Memorial weekend – May 28, 2002.   Only I didn’t know I was pregnant.   And I didn’t figure out until just before my child was aborted.   I still cry about it.           It was the 11 th of July (I believe) when I’d gone upstairs to use the only toilet in our house.   Sharp pains I’d never felt before.   I didn’t know why.   At first I tried to ignore it.   I went back downstairs to lie beside my husband.   No – I was in pain.   I went back into the bathroom – but it wasn’t a throwing up pain.   It was different.   I can’t remember what it felt like now – I had never experienced pain like that before or since.   It wasn’t until later – much later – that I learned my belly had been filling with blood My husband shot out of bed a...