As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
In my world, neighbors were a great deal more important than family, because you worked together and depended on them to get you out of situations which would ruin you.
Last Halloween, we happened up our "old neighbor". Yes she was in her 70's, but "old neighbor" is what we refer to each other as, as they left our neighborhood when I was four years old, but it does not matter in their children or grandchildren, we are still the old neighbors and as welcome as family.
Edna was making popcorn balls for the kids, as she always did that. Her husband Leo has now been dead 10 years, and he was one the best people I have ever met as he was always ready to help.
That is why it surprised us last winter when I had not seen Edna in the store or in her car to bullshit her, and I asked her grandson how she was doing. He said that she had moved into assisted living, which absolutely puzzled me as she loved her farm, but nothing more was said.
In our community everyone knows everything before it happens to the people it is happening too, and that is when we heard she had cancer around December 30th. She had a hard time of it as we kept asking about her, as in May she was doing better, and then went down hill in the next weeks.
Her son, we spoke with today, and he said she was having a hard time breathing, that cancer and she had a bloodclot in her lung too. He said it was hard to visit her as you just wanted to breathe for her.
On July 30th she died, and that is what I wanted to share in being Christian.
Leo always said he wanted to die in his sleep, and sure enough that is how he went peacefully. Edna though was struggling though, and that day, the aides were cleaning her up and she was breathing hard, and one of the girls finally said to Edna, "Edna, you don't have to struggle. Your husband is waiting for you. Go to him".
The aide said Edna got a tear in her eye, and took one more breathe and then died peacefully.
Her son said he was so glad he clocked out of work, because he went down to see his Mom, and she was so peaceful looking.
Christian people do have blessed ends. Edna probably thought she had to stay around for a woman's reasons in not wanting to let anyone down, but at the right moment God spoke through that aide, and Edna went home. I suspect that Leo was there as Edna left her body.
Good people are really in short supply now, and they probably always have been as it always seemed there was some self serving culls getting flushed out of the neighborhood to the city, but Edna was good people, as good as they come.
People do not have to be raising millions of dollars for charity or adopting 3000 kids from Niggerafrica. Edna was just good like Leo and they both could be counted on in that good neighbor American way.
Any way her suffering is done.
The African fowl? She liked guineas.
agtG
