By the way, one of the more asinine comments to come from Lisa Medley and Leslie Malm is that Mom couldn’t possibly have been the author of her blog if she really was dying.
For the record, we all die differently.
In Mom’s case, while she spent the final years of her life scarcely mobile, incontinent, and struggling with a profound anxiety disorder related to her fear of suffering and death, she expressed her love by staying in touch. Even the day before she died, Mom struggled to tap out a final message to me. She couldn’t say what she really wanted and needed to say, which was that the end was at hand and that I needed to be ready.
But with that in mind, she sent the only message she could, which was to text me asking me to talk to Chris, her hospice nurse and one of her dearest friends, whom she knew would make sure I was fully apprised of her status.
Above is that message, with part of Chris’ number redacted.
Within hours after sending the message, Mom was dead.
Nor is that the only example to demonstrate how misinformed and ugly the comments from Lisa Medley and Leslie Malm are, for Mom stayed in touch, even in her most dire moments.
Indeed, when she had her serious downturn two weeks before dying, just days after her own mother died, she woke up to discover that she couldn’t, in her words, “tell night from day.”
She promptly had her nurse pick up her phone, called me, and gasped out, “I need you now.” I immediately rolled out of bed, grabbed my go-bag, and was on the road in under 10 minutes.
So folks like Lisa and Leslie, who spout off with no idea what they are talking about, should do themselves and the church’s already tattered reputation and keep their speculation about Mom’s capabilities as she was dying to themselves.