When the schedule for us bloggers came out this summer I saw
my turn for today and I thought I would write about my new position as
treasurer and how I am adjusting to not teaching after 40+ years. That thought changed on August 1.
On August 1, my mother went into surgery for a routine
procedure at 1:30 in the afternoon, something that several sisters had had with
great results. At 2:00 the nurse came
out to tell my brother and me that they couldn't finish the procedure and that
the doctor would talk to us. We thought that they would just do the procedure a
couple days later. When the doctor came out of the room the chaplain was with
him. We knew that this was not a normal problem with her procedure. My mother’s
heart had stopped and she had been revived. She was unconscious and on a
ventilator.
Naturally we were shaken but called our sister and brother
who came to the ICU right away. After several hours watching Mom struggle even
with the ventilator we made the decision to remove it. While we knew this was
her wish it was a traumatic decision for us. She was able to breathe on her own
overnight but with no hope of recovery. She was moved to hospice and lived for
about four hours. She peacefully breathed her last in the early hours of August
3.
I have learned so much since her death and her funeral. The
support and love of so many friends, community members and family in the days
that followed was overwhelming. I received letters from former neighbors and
Villa Madonna alumni, from former Villa parents and Mom’s friends whom I had
never met.
Those who knew her praised her kindness and generous spirit.
She would have been humbled to hear their comments. She didn't live her life to
be honored; she lived it to be a good person and live the teachings of love she
learned from her earliest days in her Catholic family and school.
Another lesson that stays with me especially is that “we
never know what each day will bring.” I can only hope that I will have lived my
life as well as Mom and will be ready when that day comes. As we finished clearing out Mom’s apartment, my brother
said, “I can’t believe that it’s over.” Her earthly life may be over, but Mom
lives on in our memories and in the lives we now live as she taught us.
Sr. Nancy Kordenbrock, OSB
