Last week we attended the funeral of one of our good friends and neighbors.
A spunky lady in her late seventies, Helen was a force to be reckoned with and, for a time, my personal guardian angel.
While pregnant with Reilly, I had complications from toxemia, or preclampsia. I was instructed to stay off my feet, and pretty much avoid any of the day-to-day activities needed in order to run a household and take care of a (then) 8-month-old Taylor.
Enter Helen.
Meals were brought, phone calls were made. She, along with her devoted husband, watched over Bryson, Taylor & I for the entire stressful span of my pregnancy. It wasn't until after Reilly was brought home from the hospital and I was returning to health that we heard the sad story. Helen's husband lost his first wife to preeclampsia. And she was determined to not let that fate touch our own little family.
I have always been deeply touched by their (and countless others') kindness and selfless service during that difficult period, and I wish that I would have expressed it more when I had the chance to do so.
But hopefully Helen knows.
It is amazing to consider that despite all the worldly accolades and honors that we can accumulate in this lifetime, that it will be the small and simple things for which we are remembered when we have passed on.
In her life, Helen was a registered nurse anesthetist, political activist, and dog trainer.
But I will remember her simply as a kind-hearted friend.
that gave me chills. you never think about preclampsia being fatal, y'know? well, not now anyway. maybe as an emotional preggers. we like to latch on to the extremes in complications, don't we?
ReplyDeletebed rest with such a little baby must have been so stressful and difficult.
Oh! She passed away? Thank goodness I've got you as my link to Brookside 2nd. That breaks my heart, what a sweet lady.
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