On Wednesday morning my middle brother took me over to my mom’s house on his way to work at 7AM. I didn’t find out until I got there that while she had been up in her recliner and visiting with people all day on Tuesday, when hospice put her in bed that evening, they said she would not be getting out again.
She wasn’t awake due to needing small doses of morphine to be able to breathe comfortably. During the morning it occurred to me that this was October, and what she used to do in October back when she was able, was call me up. She’d say, “Can you hear that?” And she’d have Christmas music playing because she could, and I couldn’t due to the ban until the day after Thanksgiving.
I was outvoted on the Christmas music but my youngest brother did set up a play list on his phone of Rod McKuen songs. She had loved his music in the 1970’s. We set it to play quietly by her head for a few hours.
Another thing she and I would do in spring and autumn, back when she was able, was see who got their windows washed first. Granted she only had a dozen or so, compared to my 30 or so, but she also had 23 years on me.
As the day wore on she was having a harder and harder time breathing. Mid afternoon hospice laid her down on her side as she could no longer swallow. This eased her difficulty breathing also. She was peaceful.
We all prepared supper and ate and as there was no change, I decided to go to my middle brother’s to sleep. But about an hour later, the call came. She had passed at 9:33PM, peacefully.
She we all went back to her house and waited for hospice to come declare. I helped hospice clean her up and prepare her for the funeral home to pick her up.
They wouldn’t be coming until much later in the night, so we went back to my brother’s to try to get some sleep.
I had to be home by noon on Thursday and wanted to get there earlier to prep the garlic before my helper friend arrived at noon. We’d intended to leave early, my sister and I, but we got to talking with my brother and touring his gardens and we never left until 9:30AM.
So another milestone is passed.