It seems to be two steps forward and three steps back for Jacques these days.
On Tuesday, he received the Sacrament of the Sick administered by an old Jesuit friend, Father Michael Hawkins. The consolation of the sacrament seemed to be momentarily outweighed by the fact that his air conditioning unit had broken down and his oxygen supply was running low. The fact that he didn’t have the strength or the will to go outside and sit by his garden only magnified his suffering.
He has increased his pain killers and his appetite is waning.
On Wednesday, the family requested that friendly visits and phone calls be curtailed for the now.
Peace and quiet returned to the house and when I dropped by in the afternoon, the entire household was following the example of Jacques’ cats….they were all asleep.
I quietly turned off the garden hose that had been left running on Jacques’ raspberries and silently slipped away.
Last night, I got a call from one of Jacques former colleagues, Marie Jutras. After I brought her up to speed on Jacques’ condition, she gave me a message for him.
“Tell Jacques how much I used to enjoy our chats beneath the steps at the back of the old school. It was the only place we could grab a cigarette in those days,” she rasped.
“At 86, I’m on my way to heaven soon too,” she continued. “ I look forward to meeting you there, sharing a cigarette or two, and resuming our wonderful talks.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell Marie that the only place that smoking is allowed in the hereafter is somewhere she may not want to visit.
Please feel free to share your happy memories of Jacques with me so that I may post them for all to enjoy.
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