Christian Living

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Mrs. C


I walked into the room. It was dark. The bed by the door was empty with a red
bedspread pulled over the sheets and tucked under the pillow. The nightstand by
the bed was empty. The walls were unadorned. The shelf over the bed that housed
the light was barren. No signs of any resident were present. This is Wednesday
afternoon. I was here Saturday afternoon. Then the bed sheets were pulled back
in disarray, flannel throws were bunched up on it. The nightstand held a small
refrigerator, a large digital alarm clock , a phone with enormous numbers on
it.The wall was covered with pictures of smiling strangers(to me, not to her),
the overhead light-shelf was crowded with stuffed animals and memories. And by
the bed was a wheelchair with a little old lady in it, Mrs.C. She was tired and
dizzy from being sick all night. She didn't want me to go because she would be
all alone. So I stayed and visited like I usually did. She asked if i'd seen
her mother, this question was odd coming from her. She is usually bright as a
star. I knew she was not herself. I asked her if she knew how old she is. She
said she is 94 years old. I asked her how old her mother was, 64 was the answer,
she said she was much younger than her. So I lied and told her I had passed
her mother on the way in here, she was on her way to get her some medicine to
make her feel better. This made sense to Mrs.C. She asked if her mother had been
alone, she needed someone with her because she was blind. Now I knew she had a blind sister so thinking she was getting the two mixed up I queiried whether or
not she wanted me to call her sister for her. I got an immediate positive
response and got the sister on the phone for her, then I left.
I met Mrs. C in the hallway, wheeling herself back to her room one day. I
helped her to her room and that began a short but wonderful friendship. She had
been a farmer's wife, had three children, two boys and a girl she buried latter
with breast cancer. But she had buried her husband first after eleven or so
years of marriage, the most marvelous man she had known, then married an "old
fart" (I'm using her own words) that died 10 or so years ago after 38 years of
marriage.
She told me she had prayed for a regular visitor.Some one to listen to her and
gaurd over some of her needs I've never thought of myself as an answer to a
prayer.
Mrs. C always sat in her wheelchair when we visited and I sat on the edge of
her bed.We held hands, rather she clamped on to my hands to keep me from
straying. She was in congestive heart failure and had tremedously swollen
legs. She hated being put on a salt free diet. How she loved her sodas! She went to the hospital frequently to be drained of fluids.We could tell it was time for a draining when her breathing became labored and her memory became foggy. This made her feel better for a while. She was 94 years old and told me she didn't want to die. When the end came it was peaceful,so I was told, with her family by her side. I wasn't there, I would have liked to have been. She was a sweet lady who repeatedly told me, "I love Jesus, yes I do!" I loved her also. I hadn't known her long but I'm glad i got to meet her.She was a real person who had had a real life and done real things. I hope I learned real things from her, that in part will help her life to have had real meaning.
she was a nursing home resident. At the end they put her on hospice. They put
her on hospice to late. She was only on it for less than 24 hours. The point of
hospice is to provide pain free dying and contiuned care. I would have been her
hospice volunteer. I'm glad I found extra time to visit with her even if I
wasn't assigned to her.
But now, all that is left is an empty room, empty wall, empty shelf, and empty
night stand but a heart full of fantastic memories. Someday when I come close
to the end of my live, I hope there is someone out there willing to be another
answer to a prayer for me. I pray that it's true, we reap what we sow because
I'm sowing time in the lives of the dying and reaping good memories grown with
tears.

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