-
my maternal grandmother, born in 1921, has been living in an institute for the elderly. this is a safe place with nurses and with regular medical checkups by special doctors. the institute is run by a church.
my grandmother, who became weak physically in the past 3 or so years has become one of the favourite of the nurses. her kindness and polite behaviour made her really likeable person among the other inmates, too.
in this institute each person has his/her own room and two persons share a bathroom.
it is not a really cheap facility, but not a fancy one either. say, a medium one.
-
she sold her flat and moved in when her health weakened.
with all the comfort of the facility around her, her health status kept dropping.
little by little she lost her physical and spiritual strength.
to avoid incidents, such as falling on the ground (you know how easily the bones of the elderly brake...) they began to give her mild sedatives.
i recall her as a caring, warm-hearted, witful and smiling person. she was extremely good at basic mathematics and could easily beat anyone in the simple logical questions of everyday life.
her old self, the one i knew her has gradually faded away.
i kind of imagine that she was in a haze for the past 6 month or so.
with her physical conditions dramatically dropping to a level hardly bearable, and her mind being wandering around in spheres unreacheable to us, i believe her soul was in an eager search to find solace with god and re-unite with her husband (my grandfather, who passed away 5-6 years ago) with whom they led a perfectly, unimaginably solid married life for more than 50 years (was it 60?).
-
she passed away a day ago.
i am crying but i feel relief.
may she rest in peace at last.-
this Ave Maria is for her
6 megjegyzés:
My condolences to you and your family. It is so very mixed when an elderly loved one passes. Beautiful, beautiful rendition of Ave Maria (so far my favorite choral piece ever). I found you via a comment you made at the Deliberate Agrarian regarding garlic powder and noticed the Hungarian name. My husband grew up in Hungary. Beautiful place. I loved the visit we made there several years ago. Would love to visit again. Again, my condolences.
thank you Sarah for your visit and for your kind comment.
actually, this Ave Maria is the one our choir is rehearsing right now. we are to perform it sometime during advent, the time before Christmas in 2013.
Wow, how blessed you are to be able to sing that one in choir!!! I can understand why you're practicing it already for Advent. Enjoy. It's so inspiring. Is it the SATB arrangement that you will be using in church? Some use an all men arrangement and other, all women, and of course, there's the SATB, or even more, like 6 or 7 parts. I heard it for the first time this past Christmas. Our ensemble director made me listen to it in the car on the way to rehearsal (her husband was the tenor soloist on the recording). I was enchanted. Beautiful piece.
Blessings.
hi there Sarah,
actually, our choir is divided into soprano, mezzo and alto, as it is a women only choir.
soprano and mezzo are further divided into two sections (lower and higher) and the alto is into three (lowest, medium and highest).
i am in the middle section of the alto voice, and i can do almost all of the notes required by the lowest alto section. i have been singing in this choir for 4 years now and actually this piece is the first where voicing the lowest note makes me puzzled.
it is a note that is on the fourth line under the normal five lines.
i can't read the notes, i learn by hearing so i am sorry for my stupid explanation, i hope you get it anyway. :)
if you look at the sheet of this wonderful Ave Maria, you'll see that there are seven different voices required.
the piece is written as if it were created for two choirs.
so, we will do it together with a completely another choir.
i think this is one of the main reasons for starting the rehearsals this early.
I meant to write to you earlier, but wasn't sure what to say. Not much a stranger can say to offer comfort in such moments...
My heart goes to you. There is one thing that I keep saying to myself after I lost my grandmother. That despite the incomprehensible, absurd loss (isn't death like that?) my heart is so much richer for having known her, for having had her in my life. That she will live on as long as I live.
don't worry, Vesper.
in a situation like this, no words are good enough and any words, coming from the heart, and yours truly are, are good.
my grandmother taught me so much about life and about caring and loving each other. this will stay with me forever.
i don't consider death absurd. it is just a door and sometimes it doesn't really matter which side of the door you are.
thanks again for your heartfelt words.
Megjegyzés küldése