Last night I was at the vending machines getting a little peppermint york patty (70% fat free comfort food) when my sister Tina called on my cell. In addition to worrying about Debbie she was in a tizzy because her daughter's new puppy, who Tina had let out in the yard, had gone missing. Tina had walked from one end of her property to the other, up and down the road, across the road, over the river and through the woods, yelling that dog's name. She was beside herself and asked me if I'd go say a prayer that the dog came back.
Well, I've never been the religious sort. I go to the Unitarian Universalist Church when I go. You can believe whatever you want there....there's no creed, only some general principles for being a good person in the world. I've never felt like I had to have some explanation for why I'm here, what happens when I die, or exactly who god is and what I need to believe. In short, organized religion and I aren't intersecting on a venn diagram. It's enough for me to think there's something bigger than myself and that in this entire beautiful universe there may just be something larger at work and that quite possibly there's something for us after this journey.
But, back to Tina's dilemna. Since I had a chapel right around the corner I told her I'd go in there and say a little prayer. Sort of hard just asking for something but I did it. "Please let that poor little puppy come back home so he'll be safe and Tina won't worry." Can I get an "amen?" Tina called me 15 minutes later to tell me she found the puppy. He had gotten trapped under the house and she heard his cries. Of course, she thought I had a direct line to upstairs or something. How I wish that was true...I'd be calling in the MF of favors if it were.
Tina and her husband Luis came to visit Debbie today. Luis headed back but Tina is staying for several days (we have a memorial service on Saturday for our cousin, Steve, but that's another sad story). She's spending the night with Deb tonight and I'll go pick her up in the morning and we'll head to the lake to check on Tony and Montana. Sadly, Luis lost his mother two months ago to cancer. She was a sweet, sweet woman. Luis comes from a rather large Colombian family and to say it was hard on them all to lose their matriarch is an understatement. Debbie dozed off and on while we were all there and I know for folks who haven't seen her since she lost her hair and got weaker (like Luis) it was probably a shock. Every once in a while, though, she'd open those beautiful blue eyes as wide as you please and want to talk. "Is anyone listening to me?" she asked once. Guess how high all us frogs jumped! I didn't hear this, but Tina told me that when Ray went to wake Debbie to take her meds, she asked why he woke her up...god had been talking to her and Ray interrupted the conversation.
When it was time for Luis to leave he went to Debbie's bedside to tell her goodbye. She took his hand and told him how sorry she was about his mother. The she told him his mother was waiting for her, and that his mom was happy. She had told me earlier in the day that she was tired of taking all those pills, that she knew she was dying and why delay the inevitable. In her own way, she's showing us how to get ready to let her go. It's like jumping off a cliff. We're going to all have to hold hands and just do it.
Next post: Best day EVER!
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