My gramma has an aunt named Mary Baldie who is only a few years older than her because of second marriages and stuff. Mary was kind of a sad case, she got married, but then divorced and never had any kids. My gramma spent a lot of time with her and we all tried to make sure to invite her to family functions. Although she was a bit of an odd bird (she liked a good sex joke), Mary was a kind hearted person and was especially enamored with dogs. As the years went on, she was not able to have a pet dog anymore, and my mom bought her a stuffed dog which Mary started bringing with her everywhere. She treated it like a real dog, but once told me it was just a toy. Of course, we thought this was hilarious and teased her (not to her face) about things like this. After awhile, the family realized that Mary was not only confused about the dog, but about several other things and so she moved into a retirement home. This probably wasn't the best thing for her. She started leaving the T.V. on for dead relatives that she thought lived with her. It was around this time that I moved to Colorado and only heard the stories of her progressing Alzhiemers (SP?) from afar.
Mary had to move into a more supervised environment, but my gramma would still take her out to lunch every now and then. Her siblings did the same, however Mary just kept slipping further and further away. Before Christmas, my gramma went to visit her and Mary didn't recognize her, one of her oldest friends. A week or so ago, Mary had some sort of seizure and was taken to the hospital. She died yesterday morning.
It was no shock that Mary died. She had been losing weight, and certainly her mind for quite some time. But the thing that sucks is that her siblings have decided to wait to have her funeral until APRIL. Apparently, a family member is going to be in Michigan for a wedding then, and it would be more convienent to have the service at that time. TWO MONTHS? WHAT? I am not a spiritual person by any means, but do her a favor and put her suffering to an end. GEEZ. And what about the people who are mourning her? They have to wait two months because someone doesn't want to travel this week? This is one of the most horrific examples of disrespect for the dead I have heard of. I hope that the people responsible are aware of how terrible their actions are and are plagued by guilt, as they certainly are not feeling remorse.
