I bet your glad you were sitting down when you saw I had blogged. I know, my blogs are becoming fewer and farther between. What can I say, when life doesn’t have much to write. I don’t want to bore my readers. This past week has been emotionally straining for more ways then one but I knew I wanted to blog about it before it was faded memory in my mind. So where do I start, well what about 29 years ago.

         One day a lady stopped y my Mothers house. She said her name was Marie, she lived in the Gables boarding home next to our house. A quick friendship formed between Marie and our family. Marie was 60 years old at the time, no family and a ward of the state. What little details she shared with us of her life before we met her was riddled with sadness of abuse, neglect, abandonment and being shuffled from place to place because no one really wanted Marie. But once Marie came into our family she found a place were she was wanted. Marie loved babies and I was a newborn when she came. Marie would tell me countless stories of me being a baby, her taking care of me and me being difficult. One such story was me in my highchair thinking it was funny to throw my bowl on the floor repeatedly for Marie to pick up, laughing each time I did it. Oh how Marie would laugh every time she told me this story. I could tell you some funny stories about Marie but it would not be very honoring to her so I will keep it to myself. Through the years Marie lived at the Gables and we would visit her often, my mother took her shopping, to church and what ever else Marie wanted or needed to do. Marie loved Animals, she had her own private room at the Gables. She bought many a hamsters or bird. When ever one of them died we thought Marie would die right along with them she took it so hard. She loved to pray would pray faithful her prayers each night for the ones she loved. Marie grew up Catholic but in the last 10 years of her life she grew to love Pastor Wayne the Cornerstone church family that she informed us, “ Want to become a protestant.” Marie also loved to sew Embroidered pillow cases, They were so beautiful. She would sew them and sell them to the Staff at the homes were she lived. Marie made friends easily. One such friend was a lady named Sandy. She lived at the Gables also. I should write a whole other blog on her but she too became a friend of our family and our church.

        Then one day Marie was not at the Gables and the sad reality of being a ward of the state with no one to care for her became reality. Someone came to the Gables and tricked Marie into moving into her Nursing home. I can just see the owner of this home who just needed to fill beds saying to Marie. “Marie would like to come home and live with me!” Oh if Marie had only known that she would be leaving the Gables her home for 20 years to live in a home were there was 6 ladies per room, No privacy and people who didn’t care for Marie. She lost her life long collection of stuffed Animals, nick knacks, possessions and everything else she held dear. When my mother finally found Marie 45 minutes away in a home in Winthrop she vowed to be a voice for Marie so this would not happen again. My mother and father took legal action to become Maries guardians so anyone who wanted to do anything to Marie would have to get their approval first. It took a long time but my mother finally got Marie moved to another Nursing home in Sidney. My mother would faithfully pick Marie up for Church each Sunday, feed her lunch then take her to Wal-Mart and out for Ice Cream or Dunkin Doughnuts. You couldn’t skip any of these since they were the highlight of the week for Marie. Then Marie health started to fail, she got an infection in her foot and again she had to move from her home in Sidney to a nursing home in Skowhegan. My mother didn’t want Marie to live 45 minutes away again but they were the only ones who had a bed open . At first we were sure if this was the right place for Marie but as time went on Marie had won the hearts of the staff and she seemed to like her new home.

      I liked to call Marie the Energizer Bunny. She would fail in health and be on the brink of Death and bounce right back as if nothing had happen. On Monday my mother got the call and the DR said Marie would pass away in 24 to 48 hours. We all rushed to her bedside. Marie was very tired and weak. We tried to wake her up by talking to her and touching her but she was unresponsive. Wayne & Linda came a while later and we were all standing around her. Wayne was at the foot of the bed when all of the sudden without prompting, her eyes popped open and she looked right at Wayne and with a little cheery voice and big grin said "Hi"! She stayed awake for awhile and sang hymns with us and Wayne read her some scripture and prayed with her. She told us she loved Jesus! We praise God for giving us this special time with Marie. We thought her passing would be at any moment. Well again Marie is a fighter and night turned into day after day. My mother stayed by her side the entire time. Then on Friday afternoon I had just arrived and my mother and I were just catching up and my mother looked over and saw Marie was awake. “Melissa go over and talk with her.” She said. When I went close I could see Marie was not breathing. “I think she’s gone mom.” I said and then Marie breathed one last breath and her struggles on earth were over. So many of the staff came in and paid their last respects to Marie. They loved her so much. Throughout the week when Maries was dying they would come in a sit with her, talk with her and take loving care of her. She wasn’t just another patients to them. One lady nick named her Giggles. She did love to laugh. One of the nurses said to my mother and I “ I am so glad Marie had you guys.” Both my mother and I said in unison, “No we’re glad we had Marie.”