Native Woodcrafts

 

Tule Tree Towers over Church

 

The Tule Tree-over 150' in diameter

 

January 19 2006

January 19, 2006

Today was an unhappy day. At noon we received a telephone call announcing the death of my mother. We left Canada fully expecting that we would not see her again. I had flown to Thunder Bay to see her in early December and could tell that she was seeking a way to escape this life. Like many her age, she just stopped eating and gently faded away. Nonetheless, it is still hard to deal with the finality of it and even though I was prepared, the news was and still is hard for me. I find myself crying quietly each time I think of her.

Our communication system her is still pretty bad. We don’t have access to a phone other than public pay phones and they have to be chosen carefully to avoid the noise from the street. I purchased a couple of phone cards and went to the traffic free zocalo and called my sister. She agreed not to cry on the phone and get me doing the same, thus making a fool of myself in a public place. According to Irene, Mom went very peacefully with my sister at her side.

Irene had been Mom’s constant companion for the past twenty years and Mom’s death was hardest on her. She deserves our everlasting gratitude for taking on this labour of love. It is not easy dealing with situations like this and since Mom had completely lost her hearing, time with her passed very slowly. If she could have carried on normal conversations, then we could reminiscence, which is so important to the elderly. To the end, Mom had her wits about her but could not get the words out. It would have been wonderful to talk about her life and her youth; two things that children fail to do until it is too late.

In the evening, I was grateful for a visit from Bill and Mary, two new friends from Illinois. We went for dinner at an Italian restaurant and ate and drank much later than usual. It was the perfect thing to get my mind off of today’s sad news.


January 20, 2006

I spent the better part of today writing a eulogy for my mother. It is to be read at the funeral by one or all of my children. It was very emotional writing since there was no relief from thinking about my loss. I asked Marie to give me some of her thoughts and they were very helpful.

We did a little grocery shopping to break up the process and also decided to buy a cell phone so people could contact us more easily. Kate called to make sure it worked and it did.

In the evening, we sat around with the neighbours for a couple of hours just getting to know one another.