Depths Plumbing

Yesterday while I was perusing the dusty corners of a cluttered mind about what I was going to write, life inserted itself most unpleasantly and implacably.  I was thinking about my son jumping out of a perfectly good airplane that was going to land or the Patriots dismantling of the once vaunted Steelers but this was quickly dismissed with a phone call from my big sister.  I thought she was calling to take me task for my less than flattering comments in yesterday’s post about our relative age disparity.  Would that had been the case.

She was calling to report a health crisis for her beloved mother in law, possibly the nicest person to ever draw breath.  She had just finished making breakfast for two of her children when she became unresponsive and was rushed to the hospital.  When she arrived there the family was faced with some soul wrenching decisions.  Their mother had suffered a subdural hematoma and the damage was irreversible. 

My wife and I had spent the night before with all three of her children and they are truly some of the people I hold dearest in life and they were in intense pain.  My wife and I knew we needed to head back down to Rhode Island once she was moved to a hospice later in the day. That got delayed so we finally just jumped into the car and drove down to spend some time with these wounded but extraordinary people in the hospital emergency room.

My Wife and Miss Louise

It also gave us a chance to say goodbye to “Miss Louise”, as she has become known to us over the past few decades, as she wandered the edges of consciousness.  I consider myself poor because we only knew her for those decades.

Miss Louise is tangible proof that angels really do walk the earth.  She led a life of selfless courage and unconditional love for those lucky enough to be around her.  She spent her adult life caring for an invalided spouse and three spectacular children.  She never complained and these three children are enduring proof of what the unqualified love she offered is capable of producing.  They are her enduring legacy and gift to the world. 

Miss Louise was all about inclusion.  She had the uncanny ability to make you feel welcome even as an outsider joining one of her intimate family gatherings and seemingly endless parade of delicious food.  As soon as you walked in she would go out of her way to make you feel welcome and “home”.  My wife, I and subsequently our children were always treated exactly like family by Miss Louise even though we’re not blood relations.  My kids are as devastated as the rest of us by the news. 

While we’re all in a lot of pain right now and sending positive energy to the thunderstruck family in Rhode Island – eventually we’re going to be able to celebrate a life well lived.  In a short time St Peter will be holding open the gate and saying a simple, “well done”, as one of his fellow angels comes home.