I'll warn you ahead of time to grab the tissues for this beautiful day in our lives...
Today is Samantha's birthday. Sammy-girl is the baby of the family and she turned 13 today. Aside from Mom's birthday in August, which was sad yet beautiful (look at the update on the blog http://dottysupdates-kgranelli.blogspot.com), Sam's birthday is the first of the grandchildren's birthdays with mom in the state she is in. Typically, on our birthdays--especially the grandkids', we have cake together...usually at mom and dad's house. This morning, when I woke, I prayed to God that the day would be a joyous one for our Sammy. She is a beautiful girl with the wit and humor of her dad (my brother), and a heart that is larger than many I've ever seen. Sam is always there to help. She has the family gift of serving others. When Anthony and Con and Anthony Michael and Sam reached mom early this morning, they told her it was Sammy's birthday, and God answered my prayer, because mom said, "It's my birthday too." Anthony said, "Oh it's your birthday too mom?" and mom gave him an annoyed look and said, "Noooo" This is a family joke on our birthdays...it's from an old "I Love Lucy" episode where Lucy is in Italy and she is mourning little Ricky's birthday in New York while she is in Italy and a young neighborhood boy tells her it's his birthday so she throws him a party in honor of Little Ricky--the next thing you know, all the kids in the neighborhood are saying, "It'sa my birthday too!" It seemed that mom was referring to this family joke. Then, mom looked at Sam and said, "Happy Birthday." Sammy called to tell me and I began to cry. God is good. And sometimes when our plans and desires match His...there is bliss. Mom also mouthed to them, "Where's Poppy?" as she looked for my dad.
The love affair between mom and dad still shines even now, and sometimes, it makes me cry. Dad still sits by my mom's side each and every day telling her, "I love you" and "How's my girl?" And mom still holds dad's hand and brushes it against her face, and once in a while, even kisses it.
As they visited with mom, she motioned that she wanted the "Love Notes for Dotty" book that I started for her at the request and idea of Flo, her dear friend. They gave her the book and mom opened it and began to run her finger across the words on each line as though reading....Anthony said he was wondering if she was actually reading the book, when all of a sudden, her fingers scanned across the words, "I miss you so much" and mom read aloud, "sooo much." She read the book!!!!!!!!!
She soon fell asleep and Anthony said she appeared to have a bad dream---because she wrinkled her face and jolted her legs and arms as though she was having that dream when you are falling. When she woke up, she was no longer happy, but agitated and foggy. By the time dad, Claudia, Terry and Aunt Sophie arrived, mom was still sort of foggy and sleepy.
Lenny and I arrived in the evening as everyone else was leaving. Mom was awake and alert. Lenny played with the IPAD with her and she kept mouthing something but not loud enough to hear her. Lenny asked her, "Do you want to say something?" and she said, "No." She played the IPAD game where you have to guess the word that goes in the sentence. Sometimes she did it all alone--manipulated and guessed. Sometimes she held Lenny's hand and moved it to point to an answer.
She became sleepy, so we tucked her in after doing physical therapy with her (everyone else did the PT too). We said our prayers. We anointed her. Then we put the night light on and left a Mary Tyler Moore DVD playing in the DVD player. She kissed us both good night and we left.
Today we celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles at my church...it is a feast that reminds us that God dwells with us and in us. Surely, God was in this place today with our family.
"...Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27
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