Sorrow and Joy

My mother passed away yesterday. She had dealt with a problem leg for years that caused her a great deal of pain. Last spring she fell several times so we reluctantly helped her and dad to move into an assisted living home into a 2-bedroom apartment. After a few more falls last month, we put her on hospice and she became unable to get out of bed and steadily declined over the last three weeks. Last Saturday we moved her and dad back home, where Tom and I had moved for the eventuality of them being able to return home, but we weren't expecting them to return home under these conditions. We put her hospital bed in the front room where dad stayed by her side in his recliner night and day, tenderly holding her hand. At 6 a.m. yesterday, he called to Tom and me, who were on our respective computers, unable to sleep. We ran out and he told us that she had stopped breathing. I gently moved her other hand and she gave a last gasp. We thought maybe she would begin breathing again, but it was her last gasp. Rolayne immediately came over and Ross/Robin and Kaye arrived a few hours later. Clyde and Bonnie began their journey down from Washington.

It was touching to find in my email this morning, after all the turmoil of yesterday, a video that Lisa's husband Nathan had done, putting some of our childhood home videos into digital format. I watched that this morning and was able to see mom as a young mother, walking normally and smiling. Thanks, Nathan, for putting that together.

Our thoughts are that her son Brent, who passed away 10 years ago, and her parents, had a joyful reunion with her, and we are glad that she is free from the pain of her mortal existence and can dance again.

She will be missed.

Onward and Upward at WGU

Yay! Passed my Marketing MKT1! Now on to Accounting.

Hm-m, I didn't write at all for these past many months and did another whole term in my WGU adventure. Passed those classes and am now on Marketing. Passed my objective exam in Marketing and am now working on the Performance portion where I am supposed to write a marketing plan for a small appliance. I've decided to do it on a table lamp for a night stand that has an alarm clock in the base. I did a search for them and lo and behold, there are already some out there. I was talking with my dad about it last night and he suggested I "add" a feature where you can set a time for the light to go off. That way if you fall asleep while reading or watching TV, the lamp will turn itself off. I like it! Fortunately, since this is all on paper, I can have the lamp do whatever I want. I've already thought about having a little "pocket" type area on the lamp where you can plug in your cell phone to recharge. You would be able to open the base and plug in your charger and then thread the cord out a hole into the pocket for your phone. The lamp would also have a plug outlet for the occasional items you need to plug in.

Woohoo! I passed my Fundamentals of Economics! I'm not happy with my score, but since it's basically pass/fail, I'm not going to worry too much. Now I get to move on to more econ fun: Economics and Global Business Applications. But technically I am done with my term. The next one starts February 1. My mentor wants me to get a head start on the next class. I may want to take a break. Sometimes I do have to wonder why I am working to get my bachelors degree, but I've always wanted to get one, so I will continue on!!

2014 is here! Where does the time go?

Happy New Year for 2014! Tom and I were invited to go with a bunch of people from church to the Coppermill Restaurant. I was full after just the salad bar, but did I let that stop me from eating more? No. But I was too stuffed to finish the meal. Then some of us went to Paul Riley's home for pie and ice cream. I was way too full to eat the treat so I passed it up. However, there were some yummy little nut candy squares that I did have a couple of. What was interesting was that Paul Riley has a daughter. She and her husband live in Heber City. At the party she brought out some small white-elephant-type wrapped gifts. Turns out that her mother, who died a couple of years ago, had wrapped the gifts before she died. My initial gift was a pair of cute little mittens, but those were stolen from me and passed around several times. I ended up with a wash mitt, and Tom ended up with a little recipe book with recipes like Shoo Fly Pie. It was fun, and Paul enjoyed knowing that his wife was there in a way. Paul briefly mentioned how his wife had died suddenly when they attended a theater play. One minute she was talking with Paul before the performance began, the next she had died.

We were home by 10 p.m. but didn't do anything else to celebrate. I did hear some fireworks going off at midnight in our neighborhood. David had to work at Little Caesar's so he didn't go out celebrating. So today we are going to go see Hunger Games part 2, Catching Fire. This will be the 4th movie I've seen over the holiday break, more than I saw in the entire previous year. We saw the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug; Saving Mr. Banks; and then Ender's Game. All were very enjoyable.

Tomorrow I go back to work at BATC. It's been a nice break from the regular routine, but was over all too quickly.

Landen Climbs

Rebecca sent these photos of Landen. To say that he likes to climb is an understatement. He carried his blanket and one of Lillian's dolls.