I see it’s been five months since I posted anything to my site. When I last wrote, I talked about reacting to events instead of carrying out plans, and there’s been nothing but a steady stream of events needing responses since then. My parents continued going in and out of the hospital on a regular basis, and my mother became sicker and entered hospice care the second week of January. On Sunday, February 5th, she took a dramatic turn for the worse, and stopped eating altogether. Luckily, when we saw it didn’t look hopeful, we were able to make calls and get all six of her kids to see her. When Jim came Wednesday, he said “She’s waiting for John.” Sure enough, when John came Thursday night, she relaxed and went to sleep after being awake and agitated for over 24 hours, and died the next morning.

Dad often says that the people at Point Marion Personal Care Home would do anything for him and Mom, and they showed it that last week, not only caring for Mom, but looking after Dad and making sure he could be with her the whole time, and the extended McMurray and Covey families gathered round and supported him wonderfully during the week of the funeral. Thanks especially to my sisters Florence and Marie for again acting as the family ringleaders and making sure Dad had everything he needed and Mom had the service she wanted.

In the two months since then, we’ve been helping Dad start a life of his own for the first time in 63 years. He’s started taking better care of himself after a long period of devotion to Mom’s needs, and is in better physical shape than he’s seen in ages. He’s been getting out, meeting new people, and taking part in trips and activities, but still feels lost in a fog and unable to find the motivation to do anything much of the time. Mom’s hospice agency (part of his own home care service) continues to visit and counsel him, and a support group sponsored by Morgantown Hospice has given him a welcome chance to talk with other recently-bereaved people from the area. He’s entered the time when all the initial attention is gone, everyone’s had to get back to their own lives, and he has to start finding his own way. Many thanks from all of us to everyone who’s been such a help to him. Please keep him in mind and keep checking on him in the coming months and years.