Day One - January 20
Yellow roses with red-orange trim perfectly complete the kitchen's warm invitation the night father asks, "Isn't it amazing Norma chose this particular floral arrangement? It's my favorite color roses." His neice visited on Saturday, his last really good day, bearing flowers and Razzelberry Jam, listening to him read greeting cards in Polish, and choosing to sit with him the whole time instead of going out for lunch.
Though Iron Kettle Farm was closed for the winter, Norma called about buying some Razzelberry Jam--a unique combination of berries--and was told they indeed had some she could purchase. When she arrived, she discovered they had made a fresh batch of twenty jars. She bought them all, pleased to know she could take her uncle fresh-made jam. The same Iron Kettle Farm had bought her mother's, Aunt Lorreta's, old-time stove years ago to use in their displays. A piece of family history sits nestled amidst pumpkins and jellies on the farm that cooked up fresh homemade jam for father that day. For the next two weeks he asked for it often.
I fly in from Chicago this Sunday. After dinner we retire to the TV room to talk. Crossing his legs in the recliner with a vibrating feature he hasn't used since mother died thirteen years ago, father announces, "Cher, I've decided I want you to be there at the end, to take care of me, even if I have to go back to Chicago with you."
I know instantly he can never make the trip and simultaneously wish he had agreed to this two years ago when I offered for him to live with us. Instead he has chosen to remain in his community with his many friends he loves so well, who in turn love him. Giving is a far greater joy to him than ever receiving, and here he gives daily to everyone around him--assistance for a young student's tuition bill, a van for a ministry, his homemade apple or strawberry pie, pineapple upside-down cake, dinner at the end of someone's long day, a trip to Niagara Falls for a visitor passing through, countless fresh tomatoes from his garden...the list is endless.
Tonight he talks about an end I do not know how to accept, "There are certain things a woman can do best and I realize I'm going to need your care."
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