Sunday, August 25, 2019

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

Last time I wrote was on August 8.  Dear Daughter #2 and granddaughter arrived that day.  On August 9 she and I went to the Rosebud Chamber Music concert in Rosebud, Alberta.  It was beyond marvellous.  It took place in the Akokinskway Gallery which used to be a small church, so it was an intimate venue.  She and I sat in the front row and we were just  awed by the first number on the program.  Aaron Schwebel played Bach's Chaconne from Partita No. 2.  His performance was transporting!  It was magnificent.  If that were the whole program it would have been more than worth the ticket cost.

That was followed by "Five Pieces for String Quartet" by Erwin Schulhoff which is wonderful, humorous music.  After Intermission a group played "String Sextet No. 2 in G Major, op. 36" by Brahms.  All in all a fantastic, deeply satisfying evening!

The Dear One was scheduled to preach on Sunday at a Southern Alberta church we knew well and liked.  He preached a sermon on Jesus' words: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, which was very well received.  He also baptized the baby of a young woman whom he had baptized 26 years ago.  It was a very satisfying experience for us.

He had had some dental work done the week before and complained of worsening jaw pain.  They X-rayed his jaw and found nothing, no inflammation or infection, but it did keep on getting worse.  Coming home on Sunday he was very tired.  In the following days this worsened, and I could see him failing day by day.

Early Friday morning he passed out in our bedroom and died shortly after.  I'm so thankful that he was gone before the EMTs arrived and start resuscitation efforts.  He wanted to die at home, he did not have a long, painful illness, and he managed to avoid being brought back to end his life in an ICU.

There were so many blessings in his last week and in his passing.  Especially that our daughter was here to help.  The same afternoon Son #2 arrived, the next morning Daughter #1 and on Sunday afternoon Son #1.  They were all with me for a week, and we had a wonderful time of healing, being together, shedding tears and sometimes enjoying much laughter.  It was a wonderful sendoff for their father.

There will be a Memorial Service on Saturday,  October 5 at 2 p.m. at the Mount Olive Evangelical Free Church in Three Hills.

Here is the last picture taken of the Dear One:

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