The Least of These

Some of the most endearing memories have been like my previous post about Emma. Hearing how the kids react to all of this is heart-breaking but amazing – especially if you don’t know if they’ll remember Nana. Here are a few of the others from the Kimpton kids.

Molly and Sarah
Emily shared this with me a last weekend. On Saturday, March 8, Northeast Ohio got hammered with a snowstorm. I was actually supposed to go up and see Nana but I was encouraged to stay home as it was going to be B-A-D. I think it turns out that they got 24 inches of snow around the nursing home and the Kimpton house south of it. Since Emily is the director of nursing at Blossom Hill, she started getting the phone calls from the facility that everyone was calling off due to the weather. Can’t have that. The people living there have needs and someone has to be there to meet them. So sometime that day, Emily packed up the girls and herself and made the trek up to the nursing home. As it turns out, they got snowed in and had to stay the night. Molly and Sarah helped when they could emptying garbage or whatever little things they could do. One of Emily’s nurses told her later that every 15 minutes – without fail – Molly would run back to Nana’s room and check on her. And if she was doing something she couldn’t get away from – she sent Sarah. Nana’s that important to them. The next morning they were going to leave Nana sleep instead of waking her up before they left for home. Em said she looked at Molly and she just knew she was about to cry. Em asked what was wrong. “I told Nana I’d make sure to say goodbye to her. But that’s okay, we can just go. I know she needs rest.”

Emily held her by the shoulders, “No – you go back there right now and give her a hug and say goodbye. Because you said you would.”

Ben
Nana told me this. When the Kimpton family came up together last week, Ben noticed how much Nana was coughing. On his own without anyone noticing, Ben took a cup and got a glass of water from the bathroom and brought it to Nana. Nana had been on thickened liquids but because she wanted Ben to know how much she appreciated it, she took a little sip and asked him to put it on her table. And he did. Some time passed and they were all talking and Nana began to cough again. And Ben grabbed the water and offered it again to Nana. He’s four for goodness sake. And what a compassionate heart he has.

I don't imagine this will be the last of the things but it's a start. This is touching all of us very deeply and the kids are no exception.