God Rest You Well, Carol!



Carol was a friend our our family's for decades; I think from the early '80s.  After the death of her husband, she ate most of the holiday meals with us:  Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter.  (I don't know why, possibly her children lived rather far away.)  She became a part of our famiy.  She was also one of the first among my parents' circle of friends to move to Greenspring, the retirement community to which my parents eventually came.  She gave us a little tour of it, together with a discussion of its pros and cons (mainly, that although Greenspring is a wonderful and downright luxurious place, it is still, as Carol put it, "institutional living, and you have to accept that if you come here.")

She was blind in one eye; we never knew why, but have heard it was due to that eye having been cancerous, or something.  I remember when she had a cataract removed from the good eye, and how nerve-wracking that was. 

She went on a trip to China with my mother in 1989 and on a cruise with Mom on the QEII, during which the ship's engines conked out and the vessel was adrift at sea for I forget how long.  A day?  Three days?  Mom?  So they shared many adventures.

Mom and I went to her memorial service Friday.  May her memory be eternal.