waiting by the garden gate

An update is in order. I have received supporting words from a couple of people who have looked in on my newly established writings, so I feel someone is out there, still reading, starting to care....
After a couple of weeks of watching my mother shrink to a seemingly impossible size, her heart gave out and she is at rest at 91 years of age. I treasure the two weeks she was in hospital, for the safety of care, but mostly for witnessing her sense of humour and feistiness. Much of her humour was not present with her family over the last many years, and my brother and I were amazed at her jokes and stream of instant one liners. In spite of what seemed obvious to us, she never gave up hope of getting heart surgery and going back to her little apartment. And in spite of being scared she was happier than I'd seen her in a long time. Of course, having someone with her almost constantly and being waited on hand and foot by so many caring nurses must have helped. We all need to be taken care of. And hopefully, there will be people waiting by the garden gate for our eventual return to the loving fold of old friends and family.