I had 2 errands to run this morning. First, I took David's insulin pump, the supplies for it (reservoirs and injection sets), and glucometer test strips to the nurses at Maccabi. I hope that they can use them or give them to people who can. Of course, they had not yet heard of David's death, so that was a bit shocking for them, too. I conversed with them for some time (all in Hebrew), and they were so nice and supportive. My second stop was Shufersal to do the weekly grocery shopping.
For lunch, I went to Greg Café at Mercaz Big and had a fatoush salad. I also treated myself to a piece of cheesecake since I had received a coupon for it. Afterwards, I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions (only 3) for the month, and then I went and paid the gas bill.
This afternoon, I decided, for no good reason, that the time had come to remove my wedding ring. Of course, I could have continue to wear it indefinitely, but I knew that eventually I'd want to take it off. To tell the truth, I hadn't even thought about it until today. So, I took it off and put it in the same envelope with David's, which they had had to cut off his finger (when he was on the ventilator) because his hands had swollen so much. As you might imagine, this was a very emotional moment for me.
I had no shiva visitors today, but 2 different WIZO friends called me on the phone.
I'll close now with today's story about David, another one also featuring my mom:
Stories about David: A Quilt for Mom
David learned quilting when he was a small boy from various older women in his life. I actually don’t remember exactly from whom.
As we were sorting through my mom’s things when she sold her house, we found a number of pieces that had probably been intended for quilting or other similar purposes. They probably were actually NOT my mom’s because she did NOT do quilting. In fact, it’s likely that they formerly belonged to my mom’s second husband’s first wife. In any case, David decided to use some of them in quilts, and, in particular he made a small one (a lap quilt) for my mom.
David and my mom were VERY close, from the very first time they met. She always considered him to be her “fiat’ son (her son by fiat, because she said so). Even when her memory became worse and worse (or, as she would say, her forgetory became better!) and she didn’t know any of the details anymore, he was always her boy.
David finished the quilt and gave it to her as a present (for her birthday, I think) one year when she was in the board-and-care home. When she opened the package, her face lit up, and she was obviously so happy with it. As she continued to decline, it became her security blanket (like a toddler might have), and she always had it with her. The people at the home must have laundered it an awful lot of times.
When Mom died, we, of course, got the quilt back and took good care of it. We knew its great symbolic value. Over the last few years, David often felt cold, even when it was actually warm. Part of this was due to his feet lying to him, claiming they were freezing when, if you touched them, they were actually quite warm. In any case, I would often put Mom’s little quilt over his feet, and when he knew it was there, he felt warmer. We both appreciated the love that the quilt represents. Here’s a picture of it that I took shortly after his passing:
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