Anna and Clayton

Dear Family and Friends,

Today, August 15, marks five years since my mother's passing;  I'm departing from my travel accounts here to talk about my aunt and uncle whose full lives are also nearing their end.  Aunt Anna is my late father's only remaining sibling, our family's link to the last generation.  My brother's in-laws are also struggling against the ravages of age in two separate nursing facilities in West Virginia. 

This past Saturday, Greg and I visited Aunt Anna in Northside Hospital here in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she is in the cardiac intensive care unit.  She's 92 years old, and this past Thursday, she had a heart attack and her heart is getting tired.  She's had a series of health issues and has recently fallen in her home, where she has insisted on living, despite having her husband, my Uncle Clayton, in a nursing home for well over a year.  They have been dedicated to each other for over 65 years, and through his time in the nursing home, despite her limitations, Aunt Anna has missed very few days of visiting him there, a feat made possible by the faithful attention of their daughter, Susan.  

The family has been informed that her condition is weakening and that now is the time for Uncle Clayton to see her one last time.  Saturday, he was transported from the nursing home and wheeled in his chair to her room.  While seated beside her there, his head slumped forward and he was rushed to the emergency room where it was first thought that he was in the midst of a stroke, but later determined other conditions including low sodium and potassium were to blame.  With treatment, he has rallied and by Sunday was once again alert and articulate from his hospital bed;  Aunt Anna, however, is continuing to slip away.     

Living is all about changing.  We've never before been the age we are now, so we are witnessing our lives always for the first time.  For me, my siblings, and our spouses, as we move into the role of the "last generation," we know more vividly the reality of change.   This is not yet the time to be the reality of our children's lives, for they have the sense of forever stretching out in front of them. 

Now I am thinking not only about my dear mother, but also Aunt Anna, Uncle Clayton, and about an entire era transitioning. 

Aunt Anna's 92nd birthday, May 2011
Visiting Uncle Clayton on nursing home patio