We’re exhausted. I’m plopped down on the couch with a movie on, trying to get caught up on client work that’s been sitting waiting since late last week. Kristi’s out with her mom and other family members, taking things back to the church and putting things back together and in their proper places.
I think we’re all psychologically spent today, trying to regain some sense of everyday normality with varying degrees of success. I write and watch movies. Kristi putters and cleans and puts things away. We all take refuge in our routines.
As I mentioned in that last R&K post, Virginia passed away on Friday morning. Her initial heart surgery went well, and at first she seemed to be steadily recovering, but over the last month she was forced to fight off a series of successively more dangerous infections. Last week she was discharged from Memorial back to the rehab home, where she picked up a really bad infection that was just too much for her. On Wednesday night we went to visit her after dinner and got there just in time: we weren’t there ten minutes before she was transferred back to the Memorial ER. Kristi rode with her in the ambulance while I gathered her things and followed along in the car. That was a long night.
Thursday was spent by the family gathered at the hospital, as the infection ran riot over the powerful antibiotics being given to Virginia. It was time to make decisions, an afternoon of meetings with doctors and hospice representatives. Finally it was decided that she didn’t want this, didn’t want to be kept alive at all costs; she was a very devout Christian who had fully expected to die during surgery, and she’d been through enough. Virginia was transferred to the hospice house that evening, kept peaceful and comfortable until she passed at 9:30am on Friday morning.
Kristi’s family is big and heavily committed to volunteer service. Even by those high standards, Virginia Taylor exceptionally touched many, many lives, people who gathered at Trinity for her memorial service. The service yesterday was attended by an estimated 400 people. The rest of the family – dozens of people from all over the West Coast – spent the rest of the day gathered at the Taylors’ home remembering Virginia and enjoying each others’ company. The local paper made mention of her passing on its Op-Ed page, commending Virginia for her long service with the Salvation Army and various other volunteer activities in Modesto.
Kristi wrote her obituary. You can read it here.
Rest well, Virginia. You’ve more than earned it, and you will be missed.