A Real Gift from Our Parents
Read: Ephesians 3:14-21
Two days before News Years Day 2020 my 96-year-old mother had a stroke. Luckily the oldest of my three brothers was with her at her home in a continuing care facility (special nursing care wing) in Oberlin, OH, just south of Cleveland. By New Years Day, all four brothers and wives were able to arrive from around the country to lend support…and it also included three girl (women) cousins who have occasionally gathered with Mom for “girl-friend” weekends over the years.
I am writing this on Monday Jan 20th, after spending the afternoon with Mom and dinner at the facility’s Friends Corner dining room (the facility, called Kendal, is loosely affiliated with Quakers). She is down a couple of notches, but still able to understand conversation, do a little talking herself, and can still handle a spoon with soft food with some assistance.
Our parents worked hard to have the monetary resources to stay in this type of facility. I am grateful to them and the wonderful Kendal staff over the years that provided the very few needed services at the beginning, but now with full nursing care.
The real gift from our parents was the family unit that they encouraged from our early childhood up through now, where I am the youngest at 66 in 2020. Eating meals, sports, travel, reunions, and even a significant church upbringing; doing it as a family has sustained us and provided emotional support when it is needed most. Do not think it was always perfect, but the foundation laid was crucial in getting us over the occasional “family rough spots.”
We are hoping that Mom continues to thrive at the levels she can sustain, hoping that she is still with us until our son – her grandson, beloved by his Grandmother – Benjamin, arrives home in late May after 10 months from his deployment in the Middle East with the U.S. Army Reserve.
David DeWitt
Read: Ephesians 3:14-21
Two days before News Years Day 2020 my 96-year-old mother had a stroke. Luckily the oldest of my three brothers was with her at her home in a continuing care facility (special nursing care wing) in Oberlin, OH, just south of Cleveland. By New Years Day, all four brothers and wives were able to arrive from around the country to lend support…and it also included three girl (women) cousins who have occasionally gathered with Mom for “girl-friend” weekends over the years.
I am writing this on Monday Jan 20th, after spending the afternoon with Mom and dinner at the facility’s Friends Corner dining room (the facility, called Kendal, is loosely affiliated with Quakers). She is down a couple of notches, but still able to understand conversation, do a little talking herself, and can still handle a spoon with soft food with some assistance.
Our parents worked hard to have the monetary resources to stay in this type of facility. I am grateful to them and the wonderful Kendal staff over the years that provided the very few needed services at the beginning, but now with full nursing care.
The real gift from our parents was the family unit that they encouraged from our early childhood up through now, where I am the youngest at 66 in 2020. Eating meals, sports, travel, reunions, and even a significant church upbringing; doing it as a family has sustained us and provided emotional support when it is needed most. Do not think it was always perfect, but the foundation laid was crucial in getting us over the occasional “family rough spots.”
We are hoping that Mom continues to thrive at the levels she can sustain, hoping that she is still with us until our son – her grandson, beloved by his Grandmother – Benjamin, arrives home in late May after 10 months from his deployment in the Middle East with the U.S. Army Reserve.
David DeWitt
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