Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Lady Next Door ~~~Update~~~~



Passed away today....May God give her the rest and peace she deserves with HIM. AMEN



The house next door is up for sale now. I watched as the lawn people came and groomed the yard to every perfectionists detail, then without me even seeing it happen, the sign went up boldly yellow and white. I didn't even see it happen! I wasn't ready for it to happen, probably more accurately put.

The lady next door was so sweet, she's from the north, the city I think the Bronx. She was a Catholic from the old Church and loved attending every day...except that she never drove a car in her life and she had to depend on others to drive her. She never asked me, I think she felt that I homeschooled my children and it would be an inconvenience. You know, come to think of it now, I never offered. Here comes the guilt! I did take her once to a Lent Retreat, that was nice, she always asked about the girls and one son. That's when she told me that she never drove a car in her life. Sounded proud, too.

She loved my husband's tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, and bush beans, and always took enough to feed her daughter and grandsons when they came over....that is until recently. Probably a year ago perhaps longer when the Avon lady came over to me and asked if I knew anything about the lady next door, "her phone is out of order." I asked her daughter and the prognosis wasn't good, Alzheimer's. Gulp, not now, not yet, I thought. Time marches on....I hate that saying.

5 comments:

Suzanne said...

Oh, ebeth, I am hearing ya. I have a handicapped friend who is rather heavy. She is also rather stubborn.
She is Catholic. She lost some help from church because she could have a smart mouth. I overlooked it because I figure I can tell her to behave her mouth if I need to! LOL! Still, others should help. Lately, she has been going to another kind of Christian church because someone there is helping her. They have a bus or some such thing...we do not...still, she could get the handicapped bus to our church and doesn't! It is all confusing, but I'd plan to go and sit with her and do some other things if she would just take that bus, but she won't. It upsets me because I want to be good to her.
I also wanted to help her clean her place up...can you imagine doing that from a wheelchair and being overweight to boot? She was a bit rude to me when I did it and I told her that I won't bother if it upsets her more to take the help...a bit of pride or maybe some "mistrust" as we were sorta new acquaintances then. Now, my husband has done numerous things as far as repairing and helped her move once too...still I feel so bad about the Mass part. She let us take her Holy Communion once, but I need to talk with Father Bill about it all because I don't know about what to do in that area either any longer since she is not getting to Mass. What say you? Oh well.
Hey! I hear you are going to see somebody soon! Lucky girl! Take care! Suzanne

EC Gefroh said...

I think we all know someone like that.

Therese said...

so sorry to hear about your neighbour. My father is in a nursing home with Alzheimer's. It is such a awful desease. My older children remember what he was like before but the younger children don't really know him any other way.

Praying for the repose of your neighbours soul.

Rebecca Frech said...

That is a sad commentary on the way things are.

I hope you get some wonderful new neighbors, and may they be Catholic!

Ebeth said...

Thank you all for your kind words. We will miss "Grand" very much, just looking over there at her home, seeing her out weeding with her big white hat was a comfort. My family will greatly miss her.

Hugs to you all,
Ebeth