Mom passed last night, and it's still hard to believe. The hospice staff were great. Unfortunately, I have managed to experience too many different hospice programs, and they are all great.
Unexpectedly yesterday afternoon, and quite ironic considering my own thread here, my sister asked me to write our mother's obituary. Not really feeling in the mood to be creative, I opened our father's obituary and followed the pattern. I found the paragraph describing her life to be the hardest one to summarize. How does one effectively summarize a parent? Nevertheless, I did it. I skipped the paragraph about religious affiliation because I wasn't sure what we should write. My mother was born into and raised as a Roman Catholic until she met my father when she became a member of the local baptist church. Her affection for her time as a catholic was as important to her, perhaps moreso, than any other religious association she made. She continued to give to catholic charities up until the time she entered the hospital. Nevertheless, she was sure she had been excommunicated over 60 years ago because she hadn't taken communion in that long. So, I skipped that paragraph and worked on the others. Quite unintentionally, and not recognizing what I had done until this morning, I realized that my sister, one brother and sister-in-law had read and approved the obituary yesterday without once asking why the religious affiliation was missing. Even though my mother had donated to catholic charities for years, her final request in lieu of flowers was to donate money to the local library or a hospice program.