A little memory quilt

The youngest of my father’s sisters suffered from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease for several years, during which time her husband was able to take care of her at home. Their three daughters live in other countries and came and went as much as possible, in an enormous effort to support their parents during those difficult times.

As often happens in these cases, the caretaker goes first. My uncle died quite suddenly in May of last year, and my cousins faced the difficult task of having to put empty the house and place their mother in a home where she could receive the best care possible. She was very well taken care of, but I guess nobody was surprised to see her health failing quite quickly, and after 10 months to the day after my uncle’s sudden death, she left this earth peacefully, perhaps to go to his encounter.

Quite fortunately, my three cousins were able to make it on time to spend the last few days with their mother and say goodbye. At that point things were starting to get pretty serious here with regards to the Coronavirus pandemic, and we were already being limited as to how many people could gather in social settings. So there were just a handful of us there to bury my aunt at a very quiet funeral. Her oldest daughter was able to get on a flight back to Peru the following day, but not so the other two. We were in lock-down, with no flights going in or out of the country.

About a month later, my cousin who lives in Brazil was finally able to leave on a humanitarian flight. The youngest of my cousins lives in Cleveland, and remained stuck here. Fortunately, as a university professor she was able to continue teaching online, so was able to just go with the flow and hang in until the airport opened up again and she was finally able to get on a flight back home. She was with us for over 3 months… none of us could have imagined this would happen when she first arrived in time to say goodby to her dying mother.

These are indeed strange times. Lots of lessons to be learned. For us, fortunately, it has been a time of very good sharing in our small, but extended family, made up of myself, my cousin, my niece and my grandson. Quite a different family, indeed.

So while here both of my cousins were able to sort through some of their parents belongings, and the decision was made for them to make some memory quilts from their father’s shirts. My cousin in Brazil wasn’t able to finish hers while here, buy my other cousin did, just before returning to the U.S.

This from a person who does not normally sew:

Now that she’s back in her own home, she sent us a photo of her quilt hanging in her dining room

Lovely, isn’t it? Once again, quilting has strengthened our bonds and has brought comfort. So, so lucky to be able to share this.