Yesterday Sr. Wantabee had lunch and a former boss was there, the chaplain of a retirement center where Sr. Wantabee did part of her internship. One of the residents was a woman over 100 years old. She had outlived almost all known relatives. In her day she was a trend setter, a world wide teacher and advocate for women in ministry, even in the pulpit. She was probably one of the first Christian Ed. leaders. She was one of the greats.
When Sr. Wantabee met, though, she was trapped in a mind with symptoms of Alzheimers, living in a memory care unit. She sat in her chair without the strength to walk. Parts of her mind were gone so that she had gone through a stage of being mean to everyone so could not be predictable in social company. Sr. Wantabee would visit and sometimes just watch her caress a doll. Other times she played with a kleenex. On occassion she would become lucid and launch into a monologue that was very logical, giving Sr. Wantabee a definite treatise on a subject. Most of the time she just was. Her favorite topic was children. She loved to hear, “Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me…” and would follow the Psalm and it would calm her.
She died and my friend only knew the Home had not handled the funeral and that there was probably no-one alive that particularly knew her. Sr. Wantabee wondered, “Is it possible to live too long?” How odd that people pay thousands of dollars to live just one more day while others outlive their lives. It is good she has gone to a place where she is known, appreciated, and can communicate. Maybe death is not the biggest enemy!
On the Way to Wonder 