My Aunt & Uncle

Another episode in my life that has been going on recently concerns my aunt and uncle.  Back in April I helped them down the rocky road of moving into assisted living.  It became a necessity when they both became disabled, my aunt with a broken foot, and my uncle with pneumonia.  They had to be housed in separate parts of the residence because of my aunt’s dementia.  This proved to be very disconcerting to them both.

In July they celebrated their 65^th wedding anniversary.

During the summer two of their nieces began investigating to see if there were facilities that would let them live together.  They made arrangements for the move.  I arrived the weekend before the move, and was shocked at how much my uncle had declined after the summer.  I questioned the move, and he backed out.  I regret how I handle all that transpired, but in the end, arrangements were put back into place, and they were able to move last weekend.

It has been difficult for all those involved, and because my aunt will not stay put, she will not be able to live with my uncle in this facility either.  The nieces who have been helping out have been working hard to make the transition as easy as possible, but I know it has been a heavy load.

I am learning so much about what to do and what not to do.  It is new territory, but I see in the future that I will need much wisdom about how to handle many of the loved ones in my life.

 

Betty holding Andy

When I visited my aunt I was not sure she would see me because she was very angry with me when she first moved into assisted living.  It was a great answer to prayer for my uncle and me to find that she had forgotten all the upheaval and received me with great joy.  I took some old photos to remind her of times that are clearer in her mind and to let her and my uncle know what a blessing they have been to me through the years.  Here are a few of those pictures.

Waiting for the cuckoo clock to go off was great entertainment at their house.

A visit with them at the Falls.

Ralph and Betty loaned us the money to buy this piano which Kathryn learned to play on.

They gave us this desk that Kathryn had in her room for a long time.

Will took his first steps on this visit to their place in Florida.

My Roommates

Cheryl, Peggy and I at the Broad Street Grill

The past few weeks have been busy.  I jumped back into school, and it is going well.  We've taken time to connect and reconnect with lots of friends and family.  One of my connections was with my college roommates, Peggy and Cheryl.

Cheryl and I grew up together and attended the same church when we were in high school.  When we both decided to go off to Tennessee Temple, rooming with someone I already knew made it a little easier to go so far from home.  After one of our roommates left at the end of our freshman year, we were happy to add Peggy to our happy home-away-from-home.

We were in each others weddings, all in 1979.  Then, we all went our separate ways.  As I lived in Tennessee with a career as a school teacher and raising two kids, Cheryl's and Peggy's lives were very different from mine.

Cheryl has spent her life as an educator also.  Gifted in music, she has taught piano lessons, lead choirs and other musical groups,  and composed and published her own music.  When her kids were small, she and her husband Steve felt the call to missions and made a new life in Budapest, Hungary.  There she became involved in providing special education services in the international school, and she is currently finishing up her doctorate in special education.  I'm so proud of all she has accomplished and her faithful service to the Lord.

Peggy is also an educator.  She has homeschooled all her children, and in the process has provided them with some phenomenal opportunities.  One of the many I could mention is that her daughter Ashley became a C.S. Lewis Fellow, has traveled to England to study, and continues to be a mentor in that program.  Peggy is currently serving in administration at a university model school in Rome, GA, one of only three in the state of Georgia.  All this is in addition to being a full-time pastor's wife, and serving the community in many ways including working at the local crisis pregnancy center.

And though our lives have taken us in very different directions, we still have many things in common.  All three of us had a daughter first, and then a son, all of them about the same ages.  Peggy broke the pattern by having a third child (a daughter) who is now 11 years old.  (Cheryl and I both say better her than us!)  We all three had problems in pregnancy including infertility and miscarriages.  We all have wonderful adult children who are working at jobs and finishing school and making us proud to be their mamas.  I can't fail to mention that we have all been married to the fine men we met when we were young, and have stuck with them through thick and thin.  

And as with any friendship worth its salt, whenever we can all get together, we pick right up where we left off.  We share our hearts and know the others are there for us in our times of need.  Cheryl and Peggy have tender hearts and praying minds that I know have lifted me up many times, and they will continue to do so as the years pass.  I am thankful for all that they mean to me, and the impact they continue to have on my life.  They are my dearest friends and always will be.