Blog archive
June 2023
Bridget Brewster Discovers Village Benefits
06/04/2023
Rumor of Humor #16
06/04/2023
Communications Project with Cal State LA
06/02/2023
Creative Aging
06/01/2023
May 2023
One Villager's Story
05/31/2023
Pasadena Area Liberal Arts Center
05/31/2023
Pasadena Village Responds to Rainbow Flag Burning at Pasadena Buddhist Temple
05/31/2023
Plan Ahead - And Be Prepared
05/31/2023
Tuesday, May 23 Pasadena Celebrated Older Americans
05/31/2023
Reparations, Social Justice Activity
05/24/2023
Rumor of Humor #14
05/19/2023
Rumor of Humor #13
05/12/2023
Issue #12
05/09/2023
Science Monday - Review of Meeting on April 10, 2023
05/09/2023
Conversations Re African American Artists Before 1920
05/08/2023
Beyond the Village – Suzi and Phil Hoge
05/01/2023
Congratulations Wayne April! Honored at UNH
05/01/2023
Table Topics
05/01/2023
Volunteer Appreciation at the Village
05/01/2023
“ACCIDENTAL HOST—The Story of Rat Lungworm Disease”
05/01/2023
April 2023
Jumbo Joy
04/24/2023
Pasadenans Recent Experience With Racism
04/23/2023
Recent Events Reflecting Racism
04/23/2023
Fig and Goat Cheese Bruschetta
04/18/2023
Photography for Social Justice
04/11/2023
Issue #8
04/07/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - Catherine Deely
04/06/2023
Creative Writing in Older Adults
04/06/2023
Gifts of Love
04/06/2023
March 2023
Issue #7
03/31/2023
Issue #6
03/26/2023
Great Decisions update
03/14/2023
Dominion Lawsuit, South Africa and 710 Stub
03/08/2023
February 2023
2023 DEI Progress
02/27/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - Doug Colliflower
02/26/2023
CONVERSATIONS WITH ART
02/26/2023
GREAT DECISIONS
02/26/2023
OLDER ADULTS RESOURCE FAIR
02/26/2023
The Important, Influential Books in our Lives - Revisited
02/26/2023
History, Resolution of the 710 Freeway
02/19/2023
Eminent Domain, 710 Highway
02/13/2023
Bernard Garrett, 710 Freeway
02/06/2023
Men's Times Gatherings
02/03/2023
January 2023
Pasadena's Senior Commission
01/30/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - JIM HENDRICK
01/27/2023
GRATITUDE - IT'S GOOD FOR YOU!
01/27/2023
JEFF GUTSTADT - FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST
01/27/2023
Bernard Garrett, Incredible Black Entrepreneur
01/17/2023
What is the "Spirit Talk" Group About?
01/16/2023
Same Ol’ New Year, Brand New Me
01/12/2023
Review of 2022, Consideration of 2023
01/06/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - PATTI LA MARR
01/03/2023
FROM THE CHAIR
01/03/2023
WALK WITH EASE
01/03/2023
A Christmas Goodbye
By Meanderings BLOGPosted: 12/02/2021
By Ed Rinderle
It's Christmas Eve, and the hospital emergency room is abuzz with activity. Hospital staffers hurry to and fro to help those in immediate need: a woman with a knife wound suffered while preparing Christmas dinner; an older gentleman shocked by faulty wiring while putting up Christmas lights; a young man writhing on a gurney, the victim of a gunshot wound; a middle aged women black and blue from being beaten with a shoe by her drunken husband.
Donny sits there, amid all the misery, feeling a different kind of pain. He has just brought in Laura, his beloved wife, who moments ago, in the midst of pre-Christmas preparations, suddenly dropped to the floor unconscious.
Donny anxiously waits for news from the doctors who are working to save his beloved. To counteract
his fears, he focuses on the Christmas tree in the nearby foyer and lets his mind drift to memories of
Christmases past . . .
Christmases of his youth. Returning from church with his sister, mom, and dad. Shedding their
“Sunday clothes” for more comfortable attire. The Christmas tree shining brightly in the picture window
and the carols on the stereo provide a perfect backdrop. The family opens their Christmas packages one
by one, taking turns. Later they play charades, then dine around the kitchen table. The food is great. The
wine flows. Laughter abounds. At the day’s end they retire, and Donny's heart is filled with joy and
peace.
He and Laura have had their share of special Christmases, too. They have borrowed some of the
memories from their childhoods and made them part of their own Christmases, usually with family or
friends. When alone, they would snuggle by the fire in their living room, enjoying the neighborhood
Christmas lights from their bay window. Donny cherishes all of these memories, too.
Donny longs for those Christmases past. He savors the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of those times.
Best of all, he can feel the love.
He wonders, “What will this Christmas hold? Or future Christmases?”
The answer comes as a shock, but not an entirely unexpected one: “I am sorry, Mr. Franklin, but your
wife has suffered a burst aneurysm in her brain.” The doctor shows Donny an x-ray image revealing a
dark shadow engulfing nearly half of Laura's skull. “We can keep her alive artificially, but any kind of
recovery is unlikely.” Donny has a difficult decision to make, but he knows that even if she revives, she
will be only a pale shadow of who she was.
Having made the decision, Donny enters Laura's room. She is sleeping peacefully, an array of machinery
keeping her body alive. He strokes her arm; he holds her hand. She feels so warm and alive. He whisper
words of love and appreciation to her for all the memories she has given him, Christmases and otherwise.
With a gentle kiss on her warm lips, he bids her a heart-felt goodnight. As he does, he seems to feel her
lips, ever so slightly, tighten against his. And the words of an old song flood into his head:
“So kiss me, my sweet,
And so let us part.
And when I grow too old to dream,
That kiss will live in my heart.”
Oscar Hammerstein, II