Do Not Wonder Why I Admire Her

There were 9 children in my husband's family. Three girls and 6 boys. My husband was one of the younger boys. Two of the boys were younger than he was.

The brother next to him in age was just beginning to walk. Suddenly he became very sick. His fever was high. 

As with all families at that time they tried to treat him at home. He only got worse.

They took him to the hospital. The diagnosis was spinal meningitis. The doctors told my other-in-law and father-in-law that he would be dead within two weeks.

He could not eat or drink. He would never walk or talk.

They understood that the family had other children so it was recommended that the baby be placed in a nursing home. The doctors felt it would be easier on the family not to watch him die. And no one was equipped to care for him.

My mother-in-law had other ideas. After much arguing she finally forced them to show her how to put the tube down his throat and into his stomach so she could feed him and give him water. She said that if he was going to die he would die at home surrounded by people who loved him.

Mom fed and bathed him every day. She held him and sang to him. She would make a soft place for him on the floor so he could watch a family of cardinals through the window. If the weather was nice enough she would take him outside for some sun and fresh air.

He lived for years not weeks. He was loved and as comfortable as he could be. It was love that did that for him.

He was becoming a young man. Mom told me that he was beginning to get body hair. She worried she would die before he did and no one could take care of him like she did.

One day my husband said no one woke them up. They went over for breakfast. No one was there. They knew their brother had died. It was their father's birthday.