April 8: Surprise Blessings

Sometimes, blessings fall right into your lap when you least expect them.

This morning, my wife went to visit her grandma in the nursing home.  Her grandmother has been a resident there for several years.  She's approaching her mid-nineties in age, and her memory started slipping away a while ago.  These days, she mixes people up in her head.  Every time my wife visits, her grandma calls her "Cheryl."  Cheryl was my wife's mother who died of ovarian cancer close to 20 years ago.  Her grandma is convinced she's going home any day, and is mad at her husband for not visiting.  ("He's out at camp drinking with his brother," she often says.  He's been dead for quiet some time.)

Visiting her grandma is a little sad.  She has moments of lucidity, but, for the most part, she simply drifts in and out of sleep.

I just received a phone call from my wife.  She was crying.  Through her sobs, I could make out a few words:  "grandma" and "visit" and "lunch" and "name."  Of course, I tried to establish some kind of narrative.  Her grandma had died during her visit while she was having lunch with someone whose name she didn't know.  Or her grandma's lunch ended with a visit from a circus clown wearing a name tag.  I had no clue what she was trying to say.

Finally, she said, "She knew my name.  I was sitting there having a conversation with her, and she said my name.  I haven't heard her say my name in years."  She was quiet for a minute, and then she said, "It was nice to talk with her."

A surprise blessing for Saint Marty's wife.  Amen.

Not a good surprise.