An ice storm raged outside the window. Miss Daisy, with a warm blanket wrapped around frail shoulders, was grateful for the hot coffee Hoke brought. As shaky hands lifted the cup, she paused for a moment to acknowledge an important truth that had suddenly - out of nowhere - taken shape in her mind, "Idella was lucky, Hoke."
"Yes'um," Hoke replied, "I expect she was."
Idella lived a long healthy active life, gradually growing older until one day, as she sat, comfortable and content, eyes on TV, nimble fingers shelling a pan of peas, she died.
Most people aren't that fortunate. Twice in a lifetime, humans are helpless and require complete care. In the beginning, as newborns. And in the end, as elderly.
Infants would die without round-the-clock attention. They must be fed, bathed, changed and comforted. Mothers meet these requirements with willing hands and happy hearts. They don't mind the crying or the spitting up or the soiled diapers, and even when they do mind, they don't mind. They love their babies more than they love themselves. It's the natural order of things.
Elderly people have no mothers.
Idella was lucky.
email: MelindaGerner@Yahoo.com
