When my aunt (also my godmother) went into a nursing home about a year ago, it was a very hard time for us, even though she'd been on dialysis now for almost 3 years and had been wheelchair-bound for about 6.  We all knew my 84 year old uncle couldn't take the physical strain any more, but we adjusted.  I coped by finding a set of cards.

Ever since high school I've done cross stitch and needlepoint; I can sew almost any kit and have even made my own patterns a few times.  This seemed to be the perfect thing to brighten up a room in an otherwise depressing place, for each month the design was the birth flower with the month and name of the flower sewn into what was placed into the card.  These flowers wouldn't die or wither and could let my aunt know I was thinking of her even though I couldn't visit often.

When I started, I knew there was a decent chance I wouldn't get to give all of them to her; that she could die before the year was out.  Two weeks ago she was in the hospital in a coma, so I waited to mail December's card.  Last night she died in hospice at the nursing home.  So I made out the card with the final things I wanted to say to her, sealed it, and will place it in her coffin. My uncle has the other 11 cards, and I'll lay her to rest with that.  They can be a connection between her and I, and a connection my uncle will have to both her and I through the cards that he saved.

It's very hard to know she's gone, but that's all I can do now.