August 28,2010
Even though I did not live near my grandmother and didn’t get to see her very often, she greatly influenced me. Even in death, she became a role model. She had copies of her advance directive in places where her family and others could not miss them. She had one on her refrigerator door, held there by those little plastic fruit magnets. And she had talked to her daughters about her wishes. She did not want extreme means to be applied to try to save her life. She wanted to have the quality life that she had lived. She remained independent until her death, which was well into her 80s. She lived in her own home. She lived on property that she walked everyday of her life except when she was recovering from hip surgery or the snow was too high to navigate with snow shoes. She read even though it meant using magnifying lenses and a magnifying light. She did handwork…even though it meant using magnifying lenses and a magnifying light. She drove her own car…to have a meal in town with her family each week, to church on Sundays, to a general store to buy yarn or fabric to continue or start another project…. She made the best chocolate bundt cake ever…from scratch. She could turn the toughest piece of meat into the most tender, pounding it with a kitchen hammer designed for that task, and cooking it in the oven on a low temperature for a long time… She would say, ‘have an advance directive… ‘
So for the next couple of weeks, I will pursue conversations with family about having an advance directive. I will let you know how it goes. Perhaps you might do the same…
