my cousin and friend judy slater

in the fall,i went to north dakota to spend more time with john and judy. they have a lovely home in minot. john worked from home and was out on the road for almost a week while i was there.

judy and i were never at a loss for conversation or for something to do. we had lunch with her friends, english tea, at sylvia's and a trip to see her good friend patty. the days flew by and we savored each one.

the night we came home from visiting patty, judy was tired. we both dozed off in our recliners. when she awakened, she stretched back and had an "event" that i had not seen in all my nursing years. it wasn't a seizure. she didn't lose consciosness. it was cardiac related. we went to bismark the next day and reported the behavior to her cardiologist. he was unable to re-create it.

there is a limit on how often you can replace a pacemaker. judy's was failing her. that didn't slow her down. she continued to live life full tilt.
we made and canned salsa and refrigerator raspberry jam. did i mention that we were aunt agnes' personal assistants/chauffeur? we made meals for extended family get togethers. i was so happy to be with her.

my mom always talked about judy in endearing terms. i,too,grew to love this incredible expression of God's love!

at thanksgiving time,she went to abbot-north western in minnesota for a second opinion about the need for a pacemaker replacement. once they did testing, they were amazed that she was able to do all she repoted doing. they thought a transplant was in order. meanwhile,they did a valve replacement and pacemaker replacement. it was on my birthday that she had a stroke to her brain stem. all of sudden,unexpectedly, she was respirator dependent.

after talking things over with her daughter,tracey, john asked that she be removed from life support. she would never have wanted to live like that,
when john texted me that "heaven has another angel", i was stunned. her greatest concern was that she might have a stroke. she did and now she was gone from our sight.

judy slater was my favorite cousin by marriage. she was all that she could be-wife,mother,daughter,friend,neighbor and totally available to all. my life was enriched by her. i'm so grateful for the times we had.

66th birthday

"dress nicely. it's kind of dressey." kath was taking me out for lunch to celebrate my birthday. we'd had our usual morning, extended breakfast and then to planet fitness to exercise. once home,we changed and left for town.\

we parked on fifth avenue and walked to a little tea house. kath spoke to the hostess and then headed for a table. i followed. there were toni and pansie,,,big as life! this was the gift...lunch with friends. lovely! lively conversations and lots of laughter. turning 66 was easy.