WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JANUARY 2022

Back in August, my mother fell out of bed and my father had to call for help to get her back up again. That led to her being moved from independent living to assisted living, and left my father alone in the apartment with the cat. The family was informed at the time that Mom was probably in her last weeks, so my sisters and I gathered from the ends of the earth to be by her side. In the midst of all the trauma of impending loss, it was good to be together for the first time in over two years.
But my mother was made of stern stuff. I stayed with her for over three weeks, postponing my homeward flight as long as I could. In September, the family decided we would do our darndest to gather at Christmas. I figured if she survived that long, great, and if she didn't, it would be especially good to be with family for the holidays.
So in late December my husband and I were back in the US. Just after my brother-in-law had picked us up at a regional airport, my sister called to say that our dad had been informed that the end was imminent. We'd intended to spend the first night at my sister's house, but instead we only stopped and picked her up, then drove to where my parents live. When we arrived a couple hours later, Mom was breathing peacefully. She was unresponsive (as she had been for a few weeks) but we sang for her and I held her hand. We patched in our West Coast sister on Zoom, so in a way we were all together again. I stayed until around 1 am, fighting jet lag, then went to a hotel. My youngest sister stayed with Mom until she breathed her last a few hours later.
I feel privileged to have been allowed to see her and hold her hand one more time. So many families have suffered losses under far more traumatic circumstances.
Strange thing, though: After Mom died, the head nurse told us how amazed she had been that Mom lasted so long. The nurse had found her breathing irregularly and with effort (as one does when actively dying) and called my father. But the moment he entered the room, Mom's breathing calmed, and it remained peaceful through the next half day while we were there with her. Clearly she knew somehow that she wasn't alone.

Then there's Covid. My nephew caught it just after my mother died. (My poor sister!) Then my husband got a sore throat (fortunately after we'd returned to Norway) and tested positive for Covid shortly after (on both the rapid test and the PCR). Then my father "caught a cold" as he told us on Zoom. We encouraged him to get tested, just in case. And yesterday my grandson tested positive. *sigh*
But on the bright side, my nephew has recovered fully, my father no longer has any symptoms, my husband is almost 100% again. And Lisa will be intrigued to hear that I have tested negative throughout, despite never having left my husband's side and never wearing a mask at home. So yeah, it seems entirely random who gets it.