Blowing Kisses to "Miss Willie"

 I pushed Mom in her wheel chair up to the dining table this morning at breakfast.  We had just returned from an early appointment.  Miss Willie was sitting there in her usual spot with her head down, directly across the table from Mom.  She was asleep.  As soon as she realized Mom was there she woke up suddenly and smiled with a smile so wide!  My Moma started blowing kisses to Miss Willie across the table and Miss Willie was blowing them back.....  

It was one of the absolute sweetest things I have ever seen.  

Mom was smiling and happy to see Miss Willie too.  

It was like she had missed her.  

I just grabbed my heart....    

These are the things I see in the skilled nursing building where my mother lives.  These are the precious moments I get to witness and be a part of.  I am so blessed!

Miss Willie is 105 years old.  She doesn't see well anymore and is hard of hearing, but somehow my mom ministers to this lady every day.  Mom has kind of taken Miss Willie under her wing.  The staff has told me in Mom's care meetings how appreciative they are of Mom doing this.  She has a way with Miss Willie they say.  I think it is so special.  When Miss Willie isn't eating, Mom reminds her to eat....even if my mom isn't remembering to eat her own meal and needs reminding!  We even have a companion for Mom so she will finish her meals!  So funny.  She listens to Miss Willie.  She engages her in conversation and tries to understand what she is saying.  

She makes time for Miss Willie.

God showed me again today that just because someone lives in a nursing home and has their own medical struggles that someone can serve other people in love.  There is always someone whose life we can touch, we are not limited by circumstances.  God is at work all around us. 

Miss Willie sleeps a lot at the dining table.  Sometimes she talks in her sleep....telling us her dreams.  When she woke during the breakfast hour today, she opened her eyes suddenly and looked at my bright pink shirt and started telling me how much she loved the color, it was so "pretty" she said.  I told her "thank you".  She may have not heard me but she could read my lips.

Our boys will not forget Miss Willie for a long time I don't think.  Joseph especially.  The day she started talking about "going to Belmont" her home town was a day he has never forgotten.  It was the cutest thing which made us all giggle.  The staff were laughing we were all enjoying that moment with Miss Willie that day.  She had her purse in her lap and was telling us how she had been "drivin' all her life" and she wanted to go to Belmont.  She wasn't eating her lunch though because she was so passionate about wanting to go back to her home town.  One of the CNA's looked at her with a big smile and said the most compassionate, affirming, yet funny thing to her, "But Mrs. Franklin, you gotta EAT before you can go to Belmont!"  Joseph poked me with his elbow and quietly said in my ear, "She's funny!"  Miss Willie does make us laugh and smile so often.   The boys just look at her and can't believe they are looking at someone over 100 years old.  Philip tells me he wishes Grandmama would live to be that old.  

Ok, here I am grabbing my heart again....

Oh Miss Willie, those kisses blown to my Mom today....  It was the sweetest act of love.  

I'm going to bring her some Iris soon.  She loves flowers.  Easter Sunday, when I brought some purple Iris to Mom, Mike insisted I leave one with Miss Willie at the dining table.  She was napping, but every time she woke up she would see this one flower in a vase and discover it anew all over again.... I know she won't know it's me that gave them to her, but then again, that part doesn't really matter.

(And a side note.... I just did the math.  Miss Willie is the same age as Mom's mother would be today if she were still alive.  She's 23 years older than Mom.....)

And on ANOTHER side note….which took my breath away literally when I heard the news….  My mom died on July 1, 2012 on a Sunday.  Mrs. Willie Stowe Franklin died  a day and a half later on July 3, 2012 on a Tuesday.  I find that to just be the most incredible thing…. Two friends dying two days apart.