It has been truly remarkable and wonderful, all that has come forth since the December prognosis of "a few weeks to live." I have been thinking about this: At services we have all been to, it is amazing what people recall and describe in their tributes. Eloquent, specific, funny, complete, beautiful speeches are what I have experienced at services / celebrations.
Now I have realized that there is nothing like announcing you have a short time to live to inspire such energy and contributions. My mother has expressed a number of times how much better it is this way, to hear and feel all this love and affirmation. "I wouldn't be able to hear and read all this at my service."
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who have sent meals, thoughts, cards, books, made visits, talked on the phone, and on and on.
My mother is the ultimate Project Woman, and today she announced she is "done done done" with the biggest tangible work product in this phase of her life: Recording life stories on the digital microrecorder. We have sent off the recordings to be transcribed, and if the printed text comes back in time for her to work on it, the proclamation of "done" may be modified...depending on her energy to sit up and work.
Related to the autobiography is the sorting, labeling and distributing of photos. Photos have to go to people, or into the LifeBook, or be identified and prepped for the memorial service.
A smaller project (literally) has been lying in bed sewing tiny horse blankets for the miniature horses that go in the stable from her childhood. This stable is at Oak Meadow and has been enjoyed by the three grandchildren, and will continue to be enjoyed by this generation and beyond. Other final touches the stable is getting from Nancy include bedding for the miniature people characters. No, doing the miniature creations for the stable is not doing forest fire mitigation on 35 acres, or harvesting orchards, or gardening and canning, or building playgrounds, but it is a project in the classic Nancy spirit.
Wouldn't it be just like her to write and edit her own obituary? Well, that is what she has done. Not one version of the document but three: One longer version for the family; one for the Boulder Daily Camera; and one for the Grass Valley (CA) Union. Accuracy and thoroughness seem to be prevailing right through to the end.
"Now I can slip away..." -- that's a quote from this morning after finishing the audio recordings. Medically and physiologically speaking, that final slide seems to be underway. Status check: Going across the hall to the bathroom is a major energy drain; every day there are fewer minutes than the day before to talk, visit, and even sit up. "I can feel the fluid and cancer up into here" -- another quote from today, as my mother gestured to her upper chest. Every day there is less energy and less function in all ways, although at the moment she can still shower, eat delicious and rich soups and broths, and go for wheelchair strolls in the balmy January weather (low 70s today!). She weighs about 122 pounds now, down 15 pounds in a month. "The final weight loss program," was the black humor from earlier today. It is a blessing that she is not in physical pain.
On her clipboard on the bed this last 2 weeks is a list of people and phone numbers, people she wants to call and say good bye to. Many of you may have had such phone calls with her. As to visits, these are an ever scarcer resource.
Meals coordination is still being done by my wife Catherine Childs, 303-415-9396.
It is still the protocol to call Marian at 415-730-1873 for visits or calls.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
From Marcie/Martha Pamperin (Pomona cohort and life-long friend)
Nancy, I want you to know how much I appreciate the way you are sharing this part of your life. As always I send many good wishes your way.
Love,
Marcie/Martha
nancy,
so glad to hear you finished the project and are enjoying january - we're enjoying the upside of global warming global warming here in rural northern ca, too.
and it's so great that we can share our thoughts with you now, via this blog. eric, thank you so much for posting. if i were there, i'd bring food. instead, i'll just keep sending you wishes for strength, peace, hope & joy.
can you BELIEVE tomorrow's the inauguration? since i remember JFK's, i assume you do too, nancy & bill. thank you again for all you've both brought to our world.
love, debbie
From Daniel Ellsberg
Dearest Nancy: You'll always live in my thoughts as (you won't be surprised to hear this) one of my heroes (along with your daughter): the horsewoman mom who stopped a train.
I'll never, ever, forget the occasion when I first saw you: or stop telling others about it. We didn't meet; you were on the other side of the room, in the Jefferson County jail, when I was out of the cell getting a drink and talking with Marian, who I was amazed to see had just arrived, joining us. I was responding to her astonishing story, by saying, dumbfounded, "You stopped the train?! A second time?! By yourself!" And when she said yes, I asked her, nodding toward you, "Who's your friend?" She said: "My mother."
The image of the two of you--walking along the tracks toward Rocky Flats, holding hands and singing, then kneeling on the tracks as the train approached--is one of the most inspiring ever, to me and to everyone who hears it. And knowing you, and your whole family, has been a blessing in my life. It's so good you have your family with you. Know that you are loved by many along with them! I'm one.
Love, Dan
Post a Comment