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Death Demands Kindness
And often, less is more
A neighbor has had several deaths in the family recently. While I don’t know her or her family very well, I consider her a friend. She and her family have shown me kindness as I’ve battled cancer.
Recently, unfortunately, I have had the opportunity to return the love.
I say unfortunately because it has come about through deaths in her family.
Everyone who has died has been fairly elderly, and she knew death was coming at some point. But the only one she knew was imminent was that of her grandmother. This lady was in her early 90s and had been ailing for a while.
My neighbor is part of an extensive Mexican-American family. When people die, all the relatives gather for the funeral in the town where she grew up, where most of the elderly folks still live. Sometimes after the funeral, relatives come home with her. The intent is for people to comfort each other, but it’s wearing my neighbor out.
It’s not just the sorrow of losing people that she loves or the visitors that are draining her. It’s also all the traveling she has to do, since her hometown is several hours away. Texas is a large state, about 800 miles across each way. This adds to my friend’s stress.
