1 week later

Today I took off Hannah's nail polish. I threw the cotton ball in the bathroom garbage. When I went in later, all I could smell was Mom. In the last few weeks, when she wasn't eating, her body smelled totally of acetone, ketones from her body breaking down. Her clothes held that smell really strongly too. I can understand why people dislike the smell of hospitals.

A week later, everyone is going through their own ups and downs. It still doesn't seem like she's gone.

Father Bob gave an amazing message at Mom's funeral. Many heard it, but it's worth sharing & repeating.

Father Bob read from John's gospel, when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus comes out of the tomb, face, head & feet bound in cloth. Jesus told the people, "unbind him". Father Bob said that when Mom died, Jesus was saying to us, "Unbind her". Throughout her illness, Mom was increasingly bound up. First chemo. Then brain cancer - dizziness, more binding, weakness, more binding, fatigue, loss of appetitie, vomitting, all these painful earthly bindings that tightened their grip suffocating her life. Closing her off to us. And then they all fell away on Christmas day, when she was unbound & then united with both her fathers - heavenly & earthly.

Many blessings to you in this new year.

Love Maggie