All Soul's Day

The nursing home carried a hushed tone to its common room. Eyes were sleepy and movements were still. In the corner of the room, an aid shouted out familiar adages that residents were to complete. Feeble answers fell from their mouths. Repetitive groans emerged from a non-verbal resident. My mother sat with her head drooped and eyes closed.

I sat across from her and slowly lifted her legs to stretch them out. It took close to five minutes, but I eventually got them to rest on my lap. She remained asleep. At times, she stirred, but she did not awaken.

I continued to massage her legs and then a fellow resident woke her up. My mother asked for some juice, so I told her I would put her legs down. We gently lowered them and she said that she liked that her legs were stretched for a bit

Immediately, she began to talk about death. Her directness surprised me but I was glad to talk with her about it. She asked if she would die soon. I said, "I don't know," and she replied, "Well, none of us know for sure. I will probably go suddenly." I replied, "It is OK if you go. You will always be with us."

"Are you afraid of dying?" "No, not really. I will just miss all of you." I said, "You won't miss us. You'll be closer to us than you are now. You'll be alive to us in a new way, the way you will be alive to God." "Well, if I go, it will be OK. There's lot of nice people here. They really are nice."

"You won't be alone you know." She perked up, "You'll have plenty of other people with you. All your girlfriends from work and from the Air Force. Besides, you'll see your Ma and Pa again." She became very alert. "You'll play with Betty again and you'll see Dawn Mari." Big smile.

"And you'll be paying a lot of attention to your children too." "Yes, I want to live a little longer until they grow up a little more." "Well, how old is your oldest?" Dawn Mari is 62, and Sharon, your youngest, is 45, and Erica is 40. We are all grown up now. You will know more about our lives in heaven than you know now.

"Are you afraid of death?" "No. I"m not afraid."

Would you like communion? Yes, did your sister leave? Maybe she wants to come. "I think she left for a while, but she'll come back soon."

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...
               ..... Into your hands, I commend my spirit.

We prayed the Lord's prayer and my she received communion, and in her praying, she fell asleep. I sat for about fifteen minutes and then excused myself.