Friday, November 2, 2018

August: Highs and Lows

August started out just like any other summer month.

It was hot. (we broke a record for most consecutive days 100 degrees or hotter).

We saw a purple Rolls Royce.
Stephanie and Terri got to have dinner together (envious...)
I tagged along on a school shopping expedition.
Weird pictures you find on your phone...
The Reedley paper ran an article about Janice and me, and our upcoming quilt display.
I planned to teach some classes at the Mennonite Quilt Center.
And then my mother's health rapidly deteriorated. My father has been in a memory care unit for over two years, but my mother has been relatively healthy and alert. We got a call in the middle of the night on Saturday, August 4, that she had had some kind of "event" and they were recommending that she be moved to the skilled nursing unit. My brother, Jeff, flew in from Washington, DC, that day. By the next day, she was losing awareness, and she died on Friday, August 10, from liver failure. Although we drove back to Fresno each evening, we spent most days by her bedside. My father held her hand, and had a hard time comprehending what was happening. At the time, it seemed like a long week, but in retrospect things seemed to happen so quickly.
Jeff flew back to Washington, DC, for a week while we made arrangements for the service. Aaron went to Guatemala for a medical missions trip, which had been planned for a long time. As he was one of the people in charge, it seemed important for him to make that trip.
While plans were being made for the service, we had some fun times as a family. Nana would have wanted it that way.




Beverly Jane Gunther. May 25, 1928-August 10, 2018.