Joy and Sadness

Yesterday after Pat picked me up from the airport he let me know that one of his co-worker's wives, Sandy, passed away on Tuesday. Larry, the co-worker, is a good friend of ours, we knew Sandy a little. She had a lot of health problems and has been in and out of the hospital over the past few months due to having strokes.

Sandy and Larry love anything that I bake, so Pat always makes a special effort to give Larry two of anything he brings into the office. Last Monday he brought in the pumpkin bars that I made, and Larry took them home to Sandy. Usually Larry will call Sandy to let her know that he's got a special treat from us, she'll put the coffee on for them, then she'll go and sit on their front porch (they live in the country) and wait for him to come home with their treat. The same thing happened on Monday. Larry told Pat that she licked her fingers because she loved the frosting so much, well, and the pumpkin bars.

Tuesday when Larry was with Sandy she was having a difficult time catching her breath. Apparently she was unable to at one point and just stopped breathing.

I can only imagine how that must have felt for both of them. I'm so sad that they had to experience that, but grateful they were together and she wasn't alone. She just stopped breathing, and he was there with her, which is comforting.

Larry was going to have to make some difficult decisions - whether to put her in a care home or not. That decision is not something he will have to worry about now, and she won't have to be away from him in a home somewhere.

I hope this doesn't sound morbid, at all, because it isn't meant to be. It just struck me so quickly how happy I was for her - no more pain, just peace. And then it struck me how sad I am for Larry. He is going to miss Sandy. A LOT.

It'll be awhile before I bake anything for him; I'll let him have some time to heal. I'm hoping that once I do it will be a sweet memory of Sandy for him.