Miss W.

She loves Elvis.

Elvis
Originally uploaded by greenolive4.

Not the old Vegas-y Elvis, but back when he was young, fresh and sexy. Back when he was something new and dangerous! She loves classic rock and dancing. She loves sleeping in and taking her time to get up. She loves to eat out and to shop and to organize her things into categories and her clothes according to the day she will wear them. She loves to laugh and tell stories and she loves to sing simple child like songs.

She is eager to learn and to change. She did a lot of changing in the past 18 months, so much so that folks who knew her then are surprised when they see her now. She is humble and sweet and willing. She enjoys helping out wherever someone can use her. She shows up to all the "clean the building" assignments. She was first in line to do baptisms for the dead whenever the opportunity happened. She was so excited to recieve her own endowment.

She is the mother of two sons. She is the friend of many. She has been far from family for so long they would not recognize her at all. Some are willing but unable to see her and some are still living too much in the past to reconcile with her. Either way it is time for her to return to eternal friends and family. She has kidney failure and such heart failure that she will not be able to recover. All "heroic" measures have been waved with much difficulty by the only one willing and able to do so. Mercy is hard to give when it is your mother and you still wish her to stay. But doing the "right" thing is so hard. Harder still the knowledge that your mother will die without family and that her funeral will not be attended by any blood relatives.

We go each day and talk with her and sing to her. Last night she was moved from her room in the ICU to the floor, and today to hospice care; away from monitors and beeping and pumps and full attention. She was met in her new room by eager friends who came to say "hello, we love you, sleep sweetly, and let go". A chorus of about 12 sang for several hours and had a light time watching her switch gears away from meds and stupors into more pain and awareness, but the inability to communicate other than with eyes that fluttered. A squeeze of her hand at times to those who could connect and a few moans of frustration. She perked up while we talked of Elvis, perhaps she'll get his autograph soon...

We are going to miss you W. We will miss your sweet little face, the skin that made young prime women jealous and the heart that made us all feel warm and loved so well. We will miss you W. Have a safe journey. Happy Graduation Day.