It's Been a Blur

A week and a half ago I had a lovely time at Marilyn's cottage on a lake north of Havelock. We had terrific weather and I got a lot of stitching done on the model I'm doing for Pansy Patch Quilts and Stitchery.

Stitching out on the deck with natural light makes 1 over 2 on 36ct very easy. The view from the deck is very inspiring.

I downloaded some movies on my laptop to watch there. We had a nice, relaxing evening that first night.

The next day, after another relaxing, productive day,  at about 5pm, I got a message from my niece, Rosa, that my sister, Valerie, collapsed while they were in London. She had been taken to the hospital at the university within minutes. There is no Wifi at the cottage and cellular signals are very weak. I jumped in the car and drove 10k until I could get full service on my phone and called Rosa who filled me in on more details. 

I went back to the cottage, quickly packed and drove back home to more reliable communications service. Then went to London to sit vigil at the hospital with my nieces, Ana and Rosa, and brother-in-law, Jaime. We were permitted to be with Valerie in the ICU 2 at a time and took turns over the next few days.

Long story short, after a week, Valerie was going to be moved out of ICU to a cardiac care unit that day for further recovery. We we all believed she was 'out of the woods' so I returned home and after visiting hours that night, the girls and Jaime returned to their homes.

The next morning, yesterday, I got a call that my sister had died. Even though she was so sick, her improvements last week had given us such hope that she would continue doing so. We are all  devastated. However, I am comforted that she is no longer suffering and will not face a long recovery - which would never be complete due to her other medical issues.

Tomorrow is the Celebration of Life for Skip's brother who died two weeks ago, after a very long illness, on the same day as the Rogers fiasco - another horror story. Then Skip and I will travel to the SW Ontario area for Valerie's visitation on Wednesday afternoon.

I am so sad. And numb. And sorry she had to go through so much health-wise in her life. 

She leaves behind a husband, 3 adult children, 8 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren, and me.

RIP dear sister. December 31, 1944 - July 22, 2022

Valerie ca. 1950

(I'm pretty sure our mother smocked the dress)

Muriel, George, Valerie and Geri 1959

Geri, George, and Valerie in Tampico MX, 1966

Valerie and Geri, May 1967

December 2017