Training Log Archive: PGIn the 7 days ending Mar 28, 2016: |
| « | » |
| » now | ||||||||||
| Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | |||||||
Monday Mar 28, 2016 #
Note
My mom died yesterday evening, age 97. Very sad. I cried a bunch. But also counted my blessings. Because of all the possible ways this might have ended, it was just about the best one could hope for.
She wasn’t sick. She wasn’t in pain. Her breathing had gotten more difficult over the last couple of weeks, but otherwise everything was the same. I think her body just wore out. The day before she went on her regular trip to where she grew up in New York, one last time for the memories. Yesterday a normal breakfast, a normal lunch, and then things started to change. Lina called a nurse, and the nurse said things didn’t look good. They called me, said I had best come. By the time I got there I think she was no longer really aware of much, certainly not responsive to anything we said or did. About three hours later she just stopped breathing.
The plan was always to try and keep her out of hospitals and let her finish her time at home, and certainly not to try any heroic measures. Keep her safe, keep her comfortable. I think she was happy until the end.
And today, like every other day for a long time now, I thank Lina and Angelo and Dina for taking such wonderful care of her for such a long time.
------------------------
I think in this forum it is worth saying a bit about her interest in orienteering.
-- She was a life member in USOF/OUSA, dating back to the late 70s.
-- To make a really rough guess, I would think that over the years she went orienteering something between 25 and 50 times. I don't think she ever did anything, nor felt a need to do anything, other than the White course.
-- I would guess that she orienteered quite a bit more in Europe than in the USA. My dad was happy to go to O' events by himself in this country, but she was always along on overseas trips. I think he probably pressured her to go out on courses. She complied just enough to humor him. She'd sometimes come back without having done all the course, or having done it in the wrong order, or having lost her map, but she always came back.
-- She happened to be in Paris in the summer of 1978 (?) at the same time as Gail and I were there for a 3-day (though of course she was staying in a proper hotel and not in a tent). She treated a bunch of us to dinner one night and came out one day at Fontainebleau to do a course. I think she got stung by bees and didn't finish, but the map got framed and displayed at home. Because, as she always liked to say, she had gone orienteering before my dad did.
-- She was a supporter of the orienteering team several times, most significantly in 1985 when the world championships were in Australia.
-- And more recently, and I think now is a proper time to say this, there was an opportunity to make a difference. She had many years ago set up a non-profit funding mechanism, and more recently empowered my siblings and me to take advantage of it in areas that we were passionate about. The result has been a professionally led junior program for the last several years.
She was an unusual woman (but then most folks in orienteering are unusual). I already miss her.
She wasn’t sick. She wasn’t in pain. Her breathing had gotten more difficult over the last couple of weeks, but otherwise everything was the same. I think her body just wore out. The day before she went on her regular trip to where she grew up in New York, one last time for the memories. Yesterday a normal breakfast, a normal lunch, and then things started to change. Lina called a nurse, and the nurse said things didn’t look good. They called me, said I had best come. By the time I got there I think she was no longer really aware of much, certainly not responsive to anything we said or did. About three hours later she just stopped breathing.
The plan was always to try and keep her out of hospitals and let her finish her time at home, and certainly not to try any heroic measures. Keep her safe, keep her comfortable. I think she was happy until the end.
And today, like every other day for a long time now, I thank Lina and Angelo and Dina for taking such wonderful care of her for such a long time.
------------------------
I think in this forum it is worth saying a bit about her interest in orienteering.
-- She was a life member in USOF/OUSA, dating back to the late 70s.
-- To make a really rough guess, I would think that over the years she went orienteering something between 25 and 50 times. I don't think she ever did anything, nor felt a need to do anything, other than the White course.
-- I would guess that she orienteered quite a bit more in Europe than in the USA. My dad was happy to go to O' events by himself in this country, but she was always along on overseas trips. I think he probably pressured her to go out on courses. She complied just enough to humor him. She'd sometimes come back without having done all the course, or having done it in the wrong order, or having lost her map, but she always came back.
-- She happened to be in Paris in the summer of 1978 (?) at the same time as Gail and I were there for a 3-day (though of course she was staying in a proper hotel and not in a tent). She treated a bunch of us to dinner one night and came out one day at Fontainebleau to do a course. I think she got stung by bees and didn't finish, but the map got framed and displayed at home. Because, as she always liked to say, she had gone orienteering before my dad did.
-- She was a supporter of the orienteering team several times, most significantly in 1985 when the world championships were in Australia.
-- And more recently, and I think now is a proper time to say this, there was an opportunity to make a difference. She had many years ago set up a non-profit funding mechanism, and more recently empowered my siblings and me to take advantage of it in areas that we were passionate about. The result has been a professionally led junior program for the last several years.
She was an unusual woman (but then most folks in orienteering are unusual). I already miss her.