There were moments when we all could see it coming; but it was too difficult to digest fully at the time. Each hospital stay and return home (there were five in the last four months) informed our minds gently that the end was coming. Full recovery was just not within the realm of Jane's 94-year-old, beleaguered body.
But we rejoice in the full, bountiful life of someone who took others' care as seriously as her own. She was a nurse by profession, but exhibited the same care and concern later on for her family on an everyday basis. And that family included my own brother. This mother-in-law took him under her wing from day one, replacing the mother he missed so much, as he and his new wife took up residence in her home state, rather than his.
I, too, felt a close bond with Jane, in just the two short months I was with her. She had a motherly way of making you feel you were very important. I even found myself calling her Mom on occasion.
Yes, Jane will be sorely missed, but certainly not forgotten, by all who knew her. She is resting in the arms of Jesus, as she awaits His return, a cherished belief that gave her and us hope and peace that we will see her again on Resurrection Morning.
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17
