Everlasting Place
  • Home
  • One way
    • Proof
  • Sadie Sparrow
    • Sadie Sparrow Excerpt
    • Author Chat
    • Articles
    • Book Reviews
  • Memoir
    • Memoir Excerpts
    • Reviews, interviews & endorsements
  • Blogs
    • Eternal eyes: a blog about forever
    • Golden years: a blog about the elderly
  • Old folks
    • Planting tips for Christians
  • Messages from Chris Carrillo
  • Library
  • Bookstore
  • Contact

"I'll see you there."

2/20/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a woman I met at the nursing home perhaps a year before her very sudden and unexpected home-going back in 2016.
 
I’ll call her Ginny, just because it’s one of my favorite names and she was one of my favorite people. Still is, in fact. I have such fond memories of our visits. She’s one of those I’m most looking forward to seeing again in heaven.  And she’s someone I hope I’ll have sense enough to emulate should the Lord leave me here well into old age, in a position to make friends or scare them away.
 
The first thing I learned about Ginny was that she was blind. In her early 90s by the time I met her, she’d lost her sight to macular degeneration when she was in her 50s. Yet she was not at all bitter about it, and did not even seem to be sad about it. I’ve often wondered why. It’s possible that after almost half a lifetime of darkness, she was simply used to it. Or maybe her attitude toward death and heaven – her acceptance of the first and longing for the second – kept her focused on the glories that would eventually fill her eyes for all eternity.
 
Over the years, I’ve known a fair number of people with no interest in books. Ginny was not one of them; she had always been a passionate reader. And she didn’t let being blind stop her. She “read” books constantly on tape. She was a regular and avid customer of the Wisconsin Talking Books and Braille Library, a wonderful and apparently free service providing the blind with an easy-to-use tape player and a steady stream of recordings to delight the heart and mind.
 
I found it interesting that Ginny never asked for a specific genre of book, never even designated fiction or non-fiction as her preference. She was interested in absolutely everything, and her ever-changing library of tapes proved it. She entertained some of the most bizarre biographies I’ve ever heard of. Found fascinating stories about everything from animals to arctic exploration. Listened to instructional books on subjects as far-flung as planting a garden, quilting and managing your investments – things she had no practical use for at all. And she rarely met a novel she didn’t like.
 
Most important, Ginny loved to have a visitor read the Bible to her. Loved it, too, when that visitor had time to discuss some aspect of God and His love and His justice. She didn’t claim encyclopedic knowledge of scripture. In fact, she was more likely to raise questions than answer them. She was immensely curious about everything to do with the Lord and His gospel. Which meant that, if you shared her interest, a visit with her would always be stimulating, enlightening, and just plain lovely.  
​
I normally visited Ginny twice a week, on Monday and again on Friday. And she always welcomed me with open arms. Except for the last time I saw her. That fateful day, her stomach was upset, she said, and she’d just as soon put off our visit until she felt better. It was a Friday afternoon, and I remember being disappointed, and saying a quick prayer for her prompt recovery—a selfish prayer, no doubt, because I so thoroughly enjoyed our time together.
 
When I arrived at the nursing home the following Monday, I learned that Ginny had been hospitalized Friday night and had died on Sunday afternoon. Her daughters later told me that she had been in good spirits throughout this last phase of her life, joking with everyone from the hovering nurses and to the many family members who had gathered in response to an urgent summons from the hospital.
 
To this day, I’m sorry for Ginny’s family, for the nursing-home aides and nurses who loved her, and for myself. She was truly one in a million, five-star, solid gold and I'm far from alone in saying that I really miss her. It’s comforting, however, to think of her safely home in heaven, her vision restored and no doubt better than ever, taking in sights so glorious that we can’t even begin to imagine them in this fallen world.
 
I just wish she'd had a chance to promise me, before she left, "I'll see you there."
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Kitty
    Foth-Regner

    I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, a freelance copywriter, a nursing-home volunteer, and the author of books both in-process and published -- including
    Heaven Without Her.

    Archives

    December 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Care to subscribe?

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from Anas Qtiesh, quinn.anya, skippyjon, gagilas, ulrichkarljoho, Schleeo, djpoblete09, 00alexx, NathanPeck, Riccardo Palazzani, MaartenEyskens, jfinnirwin, romana klee, bundesinnung_ha, theglobalpanorama, Street Photography Addict, StockMonkeys.com, Robert Agthe, Genista, Neillwphoto, frankieleon, RamónP, National Eye Institute, Pink Dispatcher, Tony Webster, quinn.anya, Peter23394, anna gutermuth, neovain, Keith Allison, lewisha1990, Phú Thịnh Co, byzantiumbooks, avlxyz, eastmidtown, 593D ESC, simpleinsomnia, mcohen.chromiste, Pictures by Ann, Stampendous, loop_oh, tedeytan, TipsForComputer.Com, ssilberman, pedrosimoes7, forayinto35mm, Never Edit, GlasgowAmateur, weiss_paarz_photos, Borya, The Graphic Details, robynejay, allenthepostman, quinn.anya, u.hopper, fallingwater123, Alyssa L. Miller, Vincent Albanese, homethods, ponyQ, Braiu, CNE CNA C6F, oakenroad, Tim Evanson, medisave, irinaraquel, Steve Ganz, Nieve44/Luz, roscoland2, One Way Stock, Film Star Vintage, ulrichkarljoho, anieto2k, meaduva, Homini:), campbelj45ca, Nicolas Alejandro Street Photography, Hades2k, Alyssa L. Miller, Carlos Ebert, @Tuncay, kms1167, Petful.com, m01229, jonrawlinson, Brian Smithson (Old Geordie), Blogging Dagger, fechi fajardo, SurfaceWarriors, Leah Abernathy, evans.photo, brianna.lehman, mikecogh, Ejuice, christine.gleason, Free Grunge Textures - www.freestock.ca, Derek Bridges, ulrichkarljoho, One Way Stock, Matt Cunnelly, nandadevieast, cathyse97, quinn.anya, faungg's photo, Lars Plougmann, C Jill Reed, johnthoward1961, mcohen.chromiste, hardeep.singh, physiognomist, ulrichkarljoho, 401(K) 2013, Very Quiet, BromfordGroup, garryknight, Official U.S. Navy Imagery, acasasola, mrbillt6, simpleinsomnia, johanSisno, GollyGforce, Jo Jakeman, Mire de rien, Chris Mower, lotopspin, Marlene Rybka Visualizing & Photography, RLHyde, jez.atkinson, orionpozo, quinn.anya, global.quiz, Public Places, alubavin, drs2biz, espensorvik, ♔ Georgie R, h.koppdelaney, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, Images_of_Money, ttarasiuk, TheArches