On September 23, 2021 I lost my Mom Chick/Charlene Grimshaw and my Dad, Ernie lost the love of his life. Nobody knew July 10th what a battle she would have ahead. One fall and a trip to the hospital to get checked out, we thought with no obvious injury, she would be back home the next day like she had in the past, but not this time. One day turned into a week, a week turned into a month... turned into two months until finally a very rare neurological degenerative disease was diagnosed. This also explained much of her excruciating pain she lived so bravely with her whole late adult life. Pain that would have broken many of us yet she never complained, never let on just how much it hurt, never took the advised amounts of pain relievers because they would put her out for the day and Mom did not want to miss a minute of life. She loved life and loved to move and be on the move. She loved to dance and she loved to play games. She loved to go out for dinner and go on vacation. She loved old friends and family so much that a vacation to some exotic island far away meant nothing to her compared to a Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School Reunion or the Halifax Victoria General Hospital Nursing Reunion. She loved entertaining. She loved the planning, the shopping, the cooking and she loved dressing her tables! She had a table theme for every holiday and special occasion and 5 or 6 different color combinations just for Sunday family dinners. Mom wanted everyone to feel special, important, loved and valued. Among the many, many charities she supported for years I will never forget the day we left a tanning salon and outside a young man was asking for money. I saw her reach inside her purse and give the guy a $20.00! The guy, stunned, stared at her, said "are you sure"? I stood beside her and said "Mom are you sure"? She didn't need to answer, she shoved it in his hand and he was gone. Why? It didn't matter. To her he was a young man, still a teen in many ways and it did not matter what we all thought he was going to use it for but what mattered to Mom was that for that moment, that second, that day, that person felt seen, not invisible, felt valued, not degraded. Mom just believed that someday that kindness will be paid forward.
Her last 17 days were at the Elizabeth Bruyere Palliative Care Unit and I was given the most amazing gift to be able to spend every single day and night with her. I told her she would never be alone right to the end and when the end came her angels came for her so she would not be alone while passing through to her new destination. A place with no pain where she can walk and dance again. I told her that just because she is leaving here doesn't mean her job is done. She will be busy forever watching and protecting us all from above and when it is our turn to pass through she will be there reaching out for us to carry us safely and softly to our next destination. My God I miss you so much already Mom and I know some day my tears of hurt will turn to more days filled with happier memories.... Love You Forever.
Partager l'avis de décès
v.1.11.1