If you've read my blog "SUNDAY BRUNCH" you know about the wonderful group of sweet old ladies I've adopted as my family. The time I pass with them means more to me than anything else in my life.
My dear friend Muriel recently. She was 94 years old.
Muriel was one of the warmest, most compassionate people I have every known. She was a nurse and served as a missionary in Africa for 55 years until her retirement at age 75. Muriel never married. Rather she chose to dedicate her life to helping the poor African children in any way she could, and when she couldn't help them to live, she cradled them as they died. Hundreds of dying children passed through her arms into the arms of her God. She was a blessing to all that knew her.
Muriel fell recently while strolling the grounds at the retirement residence and crushed her hip on the edge of the sidewalk. At that age the bones are often too brittle to heal and in Muriel's case, surgery was not possible. I visited her as often as I could and saw her declining rapidly. The hospital was told to call me if she came close to her end.
That call came one Saturday morning. Unfortunately I was on my weekly hike to my waterfall and didn't know about the call. However after I got home from my hike and was preparing to go out again, I had the strong impression that I was needed at the hospital. I went there directly and thankfully I wasn't too late.
Muriel was restless and incoherent, struggling to breathe. The nurses could not help her to calm down. I went to her side and called her name. Her wide eyes focused on me, she mouthed words I couldn't understand but I knew she was scared.
I crawled into bed beside her, put my arms around her and rested her head upon my chest. I stroked her soft white hair and told her how much I loved her and that she had nothing to be afraid of. As I continued to sooth her with my voice and my hands, her struggling stopped and I could feel her relax against me. We lay like that for some time. Her breathing continued to slow down, stopping for 10 seconds, then a breath, stopping again, then a breath, until finally there were no more breaths.
Muriel died peacefully in the arms of someone who loved her very much. A fitting end for a special lady who had done the same for so many others during her life.
