The Ties that Bind
Kate Johnson
April 3, 1904 - February 20, 1997
She sat quietly, sleeping or staring, as she had done for many years. One by one the ties that had bound her to us and to our world frayed and snapped until she only responded to those that held her tightest. She still knew that she was "Momma" and "Grandmother" and she could sing along with the hymns she learned so many years ago. But for the most part we were kept from her and she from us.
She listened to a world that we cannot hear and she watched a world we could not see. We can only guess at what she was doing the years she was so far from us. Was she playing with her children or perhaps playing as a child herself? Did she visit Naomi again? Was she back in her church surrounded by all those who loved her and who now had either gone before her or were waiting behind her, missing her. Was she once again at meetings of the Missionary Society or the Women's Society? Did she cook for Uncle Bob and her family once again? We do not know.
We can only hope. We hope that she was aware of the years of selfless devotion her family gave to her care. We hope that there really was a glimmer of recognition when we visited her. We hope that she felt the love and compassion that family and visitors surrounded her with as they tried to return a small portion of what she'd given to them. But we also hope that she spent these years away from us reliving her many years with us, regiving herself to others, reloving and re-enjoying us. Those memories strengthen and encourage and gladden us; we hope that she too has had a chance to enjoy them again.
If she did, then hers has truly been a blessed life. A life of three parts: a first part lived among us, sharing her love and happiness and faith with all; the second lived among us but not always part of us as she relived her life; and the life she has just now begun, a life of eternal happiness and reward, a life where she is bound with new ties to old friends and family, a life where she is waiting for us.
