It seems that the older I get, there are more deaths of people I know. Sometime in early November I heard that Rosie had passed away. She was a German lady I met at Young At HeartGroup at Spirit of Christ Catholic Community and when I fell and broke my ankle she would visit me in rehab. She would show up and we would have some lively chats! She did use a lot of cuss words and I found that funny because usually, in my generation, we don't use "bad" words. One time she sat and watched how the therapist showed me how to get in an out of the tub. We laughed as I struggled to do such an easy function. On another day she arrived when I was baking cookies to prove I could be in a kitchen while in my wheel chair. I had to laugh when she said, "They want you to bake cookies so that the workers can enjoy them!" She may have been right. A few years ago I attended a German festival and enjoyed eating traditional food she recommended. Soon after, I heard she was placed in an assisted living facility and I lost track of her. Her death came as a big surprise and I felt saddened that she was now gone. I was surprised when I found a picture of Cece and Rosie together!
Cecilia, I heard at mass one Sunday that she had passed away. I met her on a trip to the Marian Shrines in Europe. She and her roommate reminded me of my stereotype idea of what nuns should look like. I nicknamed them The Nuns.They got a kick that I thought they were nuns because they were married with children! I remember that when there was music at one of our Young At Heart dinners Cece and I would team up to dance. I lead and she was an excellent follower! I had not seen her for a long time and one day when I saw here I asked, "Hey, are you still dancing?" She shook her head and remarked that those days were over and done. After that she stopped coming to our gatherings and now she is gone.
A few days ago, I heard that another Young At Heart member had passed away with Covid. I would see Nick at different functions and he seemed like such a nice man. He always seemed to want to help and he would go visit those people that were homebound. At the YAH dinners he and his wife were friendly and he seemed to be surrounded by different friends. I heard he had COPD and tested positive for Covid. He was on a ventilator to help him breathe and when he was taken off the machine, I thought he was doing better Then the news came that he was back on the ventilator and his kidneys stopped functioning and he died on November 19, 2020. His obituary mentioned that he loved to garden, fish, boating, camping and traveling. It just goes to show that we only know a small slice of a person's life!
I heard that an acquaintance had lost her 60 year old son who had pancreatic cancer. I called her because I know the pain of losing a son and she told me she had lost her daughter four years ago. She did say she still had one living child but that does not take away the agony of losing our children. She continues taking care of her husband who she said sometimes doesn't know certain things and other times he is lucid. She has a good attitude and we laughed how when I see her, I never remember her name. I can always use the age card that my memory fails me when it comes to names! I am glad we commiserated on how difficult it is to lose a child. I let her know I would pray for her.
"Even the best of friends
cannot attend
each other's funeral."
Kehlog Albran
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