August 1 - The happiest memories I have.
This is very difficult to pinpoint but the top four memories would be my marriage to Richard Stearns Robinson on June 17, 1978; the births of Rebecca Joy on February 23, 1980, Hollie Elizabeth on March 25, 1982; and lastly, Kelly Lynae on December 2, 1985. I have practiced gratefulness for many years so there are so many other memories I could name, however, one fairly recent memory comes to mind. On March 11, 2025, Rich had a doctor's appointment with Dr. Maxwell at the south clinic. Rich was more engaged in conversation and "sharper" than he had been for many days. " He had been having lots of trouble with eating on his own and he did not like it if I helped him when we were out in public. However, I decided that we both needed a "date" so I took him to his favorite restaurant, Don Jose. The food was good but we especially loved sitting on the screened in patio while enjoying the beautiful view of Lake Jackson. I ordered him a cheese quesadilla because it is easy to eat and a favorite of Rich's. We laughed, smiled, chatted (somewhat), and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful weather and view. At the time, I remembered thinking that after many difficult days (both for Rich and me), God favored us with a perfect memory. We shared smiles, laughs, blue skies, fluffy clouds, and good food together as sweethearts.
The rest of the week was very difficult - Rich fell numerous times and no longer could communicate with me or others. He paced the house and insisted that he wanted to "go home" Finally on Friday night after a particularly difficult episode of sundowning, he fell and hit his head. I had tried my best to keep him safe but he wouldn't let me help him (I would have liked to wrap him in bubble wrap). I had been praying about the future because I was exhausted and could no longer keep my sweetheart safe. God took the decision out of my hands when I had to call 9-1-1. Rich spent five days in the hospital. Kelly was able to come and spend time with her Dad and me while Rich was in the hospital. On the day that she had leave for Orlando to fly back to Idaho, we were able to get him into Family Extended Care's memory care unit. Rich continued to have balance issues and a week after being in the memory unit, Rich had a significant fall which resulted in a head injury. He spent an additional five days at Advent Hospital. After returning to memory care, I requested that Rich be put on hospice. He stopped eating or taking in fluids on Friday (two days after leaving the hospital). The hospice nurse started him on morphine to keep him comfortable and had a hospital bed delivered on Monday. Becca flew in on Tuesday night and Hollie on Wednesday night so we were all with him on Thursday when God called him home to heaven.
These words of Jesus are so precious to me:
John 14:1-4
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
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