1998

Death of a Parent

On March 10th Julie’s mother died. Her mother had gone into the hospital for a hernia operation which went well and she returned home a couple of days later. The second day at home she started having some paralysis in her arm and they took her back to the hospital. That night she had a blood clot in the brain and went into a coma, all brain activity ceased soon thereafter. They elected not to keep her on life support and she lasted for about three weeks. Julie, Anne and I drove to Delaware several weekends so they could see her mother and help her dad. That was a very difficult time for Julie. She had had many issues with her mother over the years and for a long time was on barely speaking terms. Julie was fortunate that in the last few years she worked on the relationship with her mother and had come to terms with much of it. I am on good terms with my parents and in some ways I am closer than I was when I was younger. At times I wish I lived in Gainesville and could spend more time with them and develop a closer relationship. (a few days of visiting usually gets me over that feeling).

PTB&A