Dying

Daddy's birthday this week reminded me of the loss I suffered when he went to heaven last June.  This past week I have also experienced loss again.  Miss Ann, as she was affectionately known, has suffered so since her surgery and her family made the decision to honor her wishes in her living will.  Another family is losing one of its core members.

Miss Ann's situation has brought forth so many good memories in spite of the tragedy of this situation.  Last night as Kim and I talked we were recalling the things from our past about her Mother that were good memories.  I wanted to focus on some of things and the lessons that I learned from them.

When I was in the 9th grade and tried out for majorette, Miss Ann was my twirling teacher.  We discovered too late that she was gifted in that area and didn't really put much effort into trying out.  But the thing I learned from Miss Ann was to try harder.  And I did.  And I won the next year.

When Kim was a but a little girl and times were hard for school teachers, Miss Ann cooked four pieces of fish for the family.  Kim assumed they were having a fish fry and invited our whole family for dinner.  Much to our family's surprise, there was but four pieces of fish.  Miss Ann cobbled together some other stuff from the fridge and we all ate together as if we were having a big ole southern' fish fry.  I learned that you are gracious as a hostess no matter what and that you are gracious as a guest - no matter what is served.

I will never forget the night before Jacob was born.   My Mother was playing bridge, my Daddy was home with me and Kenny was traveling from Dallas.  I went to Miss Ann's and burst into tears exclaiming that I was not ready to be a mother.  She assured me that I was and that it was really too late to change my mind.  A week later when I brought Jake home from the hospital and everyone had gone back to work, she came over when I panicked about bathing him.  She assured me that Dial soap and water would not kill him and that he was a pretty sturdy little guy.  I learned alot about not stressing over the little things from her in those early months and years of Jake's life.  She and my Mother taught me that kids can eat rice cereal before the pediatrician tells you they can, Dial soap will not rot the baby's skin off, and boys are going to get cuts, bruises and scrapes as they go through life.

She raised a lot of kids at "Miss Ann's Day Care" and I am sure there are so many others that can share a life lesson learned from Miss Ann.  As she approaches the final days of her life, lets not dwell on the sadness but on the memories of great things that we learned from our Southern friend - Miss Ann!