Mary Isabelle Necessary On a Bicycle

The angels picked up Gramma at 11:00 pm last night from Southlake Regional Hospital and took her home to heaven. Job 1:21 ...the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

For the 10 hours prior to her leaving this world of pain, my brother Dave and Sharon, Kate, Kim and Rob, Doug, Trevor and me had laughed and talked, reminiscing about the last 60 years of life with Mom and Dad. It sounded like a script for the Little Rascals. Everything from Mom making soup every week to feed the hobos that walked the CP tracks behind our house, to baking chocolate cake that, unbeknownst to us, wasn't supposed to be flat and chewy. Someone tried to get us to eat some weird concoction that was thick and fluffy telling us it was chocolate cake. We knew different. To this day, I have to pour milk on Chocolate cake, fluffy or otherwise.

Mom grew up with 3 older brothers and a younger sister on a farm near Moorefield, Ontario during the war years. With 2 brothers and her father in the service she had to work with her brother and mother to keep the farm going. She knew what it meant to work hard and the evidence is seen in her life. From making bullets to spinning cotton for Khaki uniform material to making shoes at Scroggins in Galt, Ontario, Mom worked for a living.

When she turned 52, Rheumatoid Arthritis became her nemesis. I'm sure a lot of people have given up with this terrible disease but not Mom as her fingers and toes slowly lost their use and became impedances that got caught when she was trying to put on clothes. Right to the end, Mom knit clothes for missionaries and great grandchildren.

RM and I bought Mom a puppy 5 years ago which became a constant in her life. Posie loved her as only a dog can. Last night when Gramma didn't come home, Posie sensed something and was very quiet.

I already miss her as does Rose Mary who spent the last 5 years caring  for her at our home. I think RM  identified with Mom and her arthritis giving her an empathetic heart rather than just a sympathetic feeling for her. 

 There are so many sides to Mom's character she was like a cut diamond. Depending at which way you looked at her you saw something different. Not wrong or in a bad sense, just a different light bouncing back at you. Oh, there's no doubt, it could be bad at that moment. Trust me, we all knew that she was the one who gave the lickins! When I was growing up, being taken out to the woodshed was a literal place to be and the whompin' stick was whatever was handy at that moment. I think we need to bring back the "woodshed".

Mom stuck up for her boys and then her grandkids and then her great grandkids. Learning how to defend yourself with older brothers helped and so did being "mouthy".

That's what got her and Dad in trouble so much in the early days of their marriage. They were both strong willed and had to get in the last word. After giving their lives to Christ things changed. Mom still got in her "licks" at times but she was able to say she was sorry, sort of, after. We had doozy battles when she lived with us. I could escape downstairs where she couldn't physically go and would tell her I couldn't hear her all the way down which would really tick her off. Then I'd poke my head up over the half wall and smile at her. She'd laugh.

As my sister-in-law Sharon said, "We have lost a prayer warrior." When the pain woke her in the middle of the night, she would pray for people. Her writings are full of prayer items that recur over and over through the years, particularly her siblings and her sons and their families. Mom was proponent of Prayer Meeting and lamented the demise of the Wednesday night practice but was grateful that the seniors still got together to pray.

We will miss her physical presence, her voice but will be able to continue her legacy and pass down to the next generation the values that she held, not just in life, but in eternal values. Eternity was written in her heart as it is in all of us. She found that forever connection and her prayer was always that others, in particular her family, would realize that eternity is in their hearts as well.

‘Well done, good and faithful servant...   Enter into the joy of your master.’ Matt. 25:23

 The celebration of Mom's life will be at Calvary Baptist Church, Guelph, Ontario on February 20 at 1:00 pm. The preacher will be her grandson, Kaj Ballantyne.

Sleep Apnea

The appointment was for 11:15 on Tuesday. I wasn’t looking forward to it but knew if I didn’t go, my driver’s licence may get yanked. The doctor specialized in dealing with sleep apnea.

He told me I was mid range moderate and had stopped breathing 22 times an hour for short periods although one was for 59 seconds. My brother suggested I take up diving. If you have read the previous blog, you will have noticed the pics of a C-PAP machine that is worn at night. They have become much more streamlined than they were in the 1980’s but really, who wants to have one of those hanging off your face all night.

Now, here’s where it gets good. I told him I had lost weight since our last conversation. Well, let’s get weighed again. It was one of those happy moments when he asked me what my goal was and I said 200 by June 30. That was enough for Dr. Fried to close the file and tell me that I didn’t need the machine and he would monitor me through my local doctor’s office. 

So, it’s 5 months to lose 45 lbs. I’m down from 280 lbs prior to my near death diabetic coma weighing in at 245 and figure 10 ibs a month is a good and healthy rate of burn.

I also failed a test this past week that I had studied for and felt rather embarrassed about. 59% used to get you a pass but not at this place. It was a stress test and before my quadriceps femoris exploded off my leg or melted down over my patella, I hollered, “Give, Uncle,” whatever, just turn off the tread mill. The only word in my mind was “pain.” I know, I’m a woos.

The plan is to re-test in the days ahead and do the full time. My poor old heart has taken a beating after 65 years of abuse so I need to be careful but according to all the other tests, it’s beating along at a good rate. I have been taken off all blood pressure medication, my insulin has been reduced and my breathing is back to normal. Being fat is not good. Can’t wait to get back into my Speedo.