Hell's Bells And The Pearly Gates ©

February is nearing an end and so far this year has been nothing but grief.
It started with an uncle dieing followed by yet another uncle passing away on the eve of the first funeral.
No sooner that we got news of this, my father received a phone call telling him his youngest sister’s days were numbered.
Then my mother’s best friend found herself in the hospital with stomach cancer yet again and this time she was done for they said.

I drove my mother to the hospital to see her and upon entering the room my mother almost fainted at the sight of how she had deteriorated in such a quick time.
She couldn’t talk or do anything.

Her nephew came in and talked to the doctor and was told that she had a day or two at the most.
He went back to the bed and she asked him when would she be allowed to go home.
He told her she would be home by Easter.

She is 72 years old, a widow from the time she was thirty and never remarried but instead help raise her sisters’ kids.
When she wasn’t with her family she was either helping out at the church or stopping by people’s homes to visit and drop off some produce she may have found and bought.
She was a very generous and kind person and people treated her the same and had many friends as this last weekend proved.

This weekend an army of people such of which the hospital staff had never seen before.
Thousands of Greeks and others passed her room to see her for one last time as word spread of her condition.
She wasn’t a dignitary, a politician, a hero or a rock star, just an ordinary person.
The average person on the street wouldn’t recognize her name, they may say “Oh yeah, I know her” if you showed them her picture though.

Childless, her nephews gathered around the woman who treated them like a mother and watched as the priest gave her holy communion one last time and forgave her of any sins she may have possibly had.
The family sat there all Friday by her side waiting patiently for her to pass on into tomorrow until it was almost dawn, then they slowly all went home to get some rest so they could come back later in the day.

It was the wife of her favourite nephew who arrived at the hospital first.
It was she who walked through the door and found the bed empty, and neatly put together.
Her hand reached out and touched the cold sheets as they lay there were once a warm body lay; someone she loved dearly.
She rested the bag that had some food she brought along in case her aunt felt like eating on the small table and sat in the chair trying to take hold of her grief as it was building up inside her.

She thought of calling her husband but how would she tell him that she was gone?
Reaching into her purse she drew out her cell phone and started calling home and her husband.

The phone rang and rang but there was no answer, he must be on his way to the hospital she thought.
She closed the phone and returned it to her purse then got up, picked up the bag and proceeded to go to the front door and wait for her husband to arrive.

“So what did you bring me to eat, I am starving”.

She turned, dropped the bag on the floor and almost started screaming.
The aunt walked out of the toilet looking as healthy as she used to be almost.
She walked to her bed and hopped in ready to eat what was brought for her and she ate it all by the time her nephew showed up.

The doctors and nurses can’t explain it but she has done a complete turn around.
So maybe she will be home by Easter.

I figured there has been enough grief around lately so maybe a little light at the end of the tunnel might brighten up our day.

I am really busy this weekend but i will hopefully catch up with you on your blogs later tonight after I get all of the plaster and 100 year old dust washed off of me.

Have a nice day.

Walker