A few days ago a squirrel became disabled here in our front yard. We don’t know exactly what happened to the little critter, but he is paralyzed from the waist down (if squirrels have waists…). He managed to climb a tree and get out of our reach that evening, but by the next morning he was down at the bottom of a tree again, so Isaac caught him. We put the squirrel in a bin on the front porch and made sure he had food, water and some bedding. I thought for sure the squirrel would die soon, but he has lived for a couple of days now. I don’t know what we’re going to do with him.

A couple of weeks ago we had a toad and two garden snakes on our front porch, so I called it our Reptile Room. Now that the toad and snakes are gone and we have a squirrel on the porch, I’ve renamed it our Rodent Rescue Room.

Michael’s mother made an interesting comment yesterday when Isaac was showing off “his” squirrel. She wondered aloud if Isaac would be a veterinarian someday. I had never thought of that! If anyone could handle obnoxious animals, it would be Isaac. (I think it’s because he is a kindred spirit…)

Yesterday after Isaac’s guitar lesson we went to see my grandmother again.  We jumped right into our routine of singing to her, and as usual she seemed to really enjoy it.  I noticed that when I sing to her, I see the words of the hymns in a whole new way.  One hymn in particular was very meaningful to me as I sang the last verse:

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

Grandma seemed to soak in the words, and she repeatedly said “Yes….yes!”  It seemed clear to me that we are holding her hand and comforting her as she is on this final journey.  No one is pretending that Grandma is going to get better, and no one is ignoring the fact that she is dying.  Instead, we are doing our best to keep her comfortable and to enjoy these last days with her.  When I think of the phrase “dying with dignity”, I think of a negative slant.  However, when I go to visit my grandmother and see her resting comfortably on a soft bed, surrounded by loving, gentle caregivers, I am so impressed with the honor being given to her and the dignity she shows.  Someone quoted Mother Teresa as saying, “Death with dignity is to die with grace, in the knowledge that [you] are loved.”  That pretty much sums it up, don’t you think?

Isaac was quickly putting away dishes, and in the process knocking things over.

I said to him, “Isaac, you’re like a bull in a china shop!”

“What?”, he said.

“I said, you’re like a bull in a china shop.”

“Isn’t that where they belong?”

????

After a bit more discussion he exclaimed, “Oh! I thought you said ‘a bowl in a china shop’!”

*Sigh*