Posted 12/12/2020 4:32 PM (GMT 0)
When my dad died years ago, my mom lived on as a widow, never remarrying, for years in her condo here in Gainesville.
Until about a year ago, that is, when, due to age-related infirmities at age 93, we the family saw the need for her to move into an assisted living facility in nearby Ocala, where she could live more safely and easily, with needed supervision..
That worked out satisfactorily until about three months ago, when the staff at the ALF told us that her health situation had declined to the point where she now needed to be full-time in a medically-equipped nursing home, one able to attend to her growing medical needs.
So after research we found a suitable nursing home also in the Ocala area which accepted mom, she moved in, and had been living there, again satisfactorily, despite increasing health impairments, since last September.
Visiting her there was very restricted due to COVID concerns, but we complied with the mandatory safety protocols, and were able to visit her a few times. But it became obvious during our visits that the decline was accelerating.
Then a couple of nights ago I received a phone call at 11:10 PM. I saw immediately from caller ID that the call was coming from the home, and thought, especially due to the hour, "this isn't going to be good."
It wasn't. The nurse on the other end informed me that mom had passed about thirty minutes earlier, and it was the home's policy to notify next of kin by phone as soon as possible, if the time of day was "within reason." I guess 11:10 PM was considered within reason.
No, I didn't have to post about this, as it is clearly a personal matter, and irrelevant to this forum, but she was such a fine woman and great mother, that, if you don't mind, I just felt like saying so.
It's the natural order of things, to lose an elderly parent, but along with sadness at her loss is a feeling of great gratitude to her for all that she did for me, both from the time I was born and then over the years.
RIP, mom.