Near death

I got a call Tuesday at 4:20 in the morning saying that my mother-in-law was "in the process of dying," and would I like to notify my wife. That proved a bit difficult, but I eventually got word to her.

In the meantime I was sitting by my mother-in-law's bed, talking to her and reading some familiar Bible passages to her. Over the hours she started breathing regularly again, and by the time my wife was able to get there I think the original hospice nurse would have had a different opinion. Certainly the new one did. The chaplain came and talked about death issues, and the patient's breathing became more and more regular.

She's partly recovered now, able to eat some things and talk a little--and object to "the valley of the shadow of death" when the chaplain was reading the 23'rd Psalm. A sense of humor again . ..

I'm pretty tired; my wife is even more so. The homeschool schedule went ashcan, but I'm not as worried about that as the beancounters at Education: a lot of the most important things to learn aren't in the curriciculum.

One day at a time.