Two year remembrance

Dad placed some flowers (artificial, to survive the heat) at the grave today.

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I miss taking care of mom. My memory of her is dominated by the caretaking days.

Happy Birthday Marlies

On Nov 6th, Marlies's brithday, Leah writes:

We miss you and love you.

(just couldn't let the day pass without commemorating it in some way)

Memorial Service on Sept 9th, 2006

A memorial service will be held for Marlies at Lawrenceville Presbyterian Chruch in Lawrenceville GA on Sept 9th. The church is about a one hour drive from Atlanta airport. The service will begin at 11am and will include light fare for eating. If we find a willing caterer, there will be beef tongue, head cheese, licorice, ice cream, pound cake (for Shep), chocolate and lots of coffee.

Everyone is welcome and we look forward to seeing quite a few folks that have commented on this blog. The church is located at 800 Lawrenceville Highway in Lawrenceville. Google Map

The following day, the family will drive to Buena Vista, GA for a private burial service. Marlies' ashes will be laid to rest in a Williams family plot in the small town.

With all of the kindness we've received from friends and family, we look forward to expressing our heartfelt thanks to everyone.

Bye Bye Mauschen

It is with great sadness that we report Marlies' passing this morning at 12:15. She was surrounded by her three children when she passed peacefully.

The last eleven weeks have been a roller coaster ride of emotion which included many good visits from friends and family, trips to restaurants, and family moments. The swings of emotion were mostly ours as Marlies maintained a stoicism throughout. This was not a battle for her. Rather than arm herself for a fight, she observed conscientiously, following doctor's orders on how to take a punch but not throwing one of her own. On her good days she rallied like a champion.

We were lucky to have such a perfect patient. She was always the favorite of the nurses. We will continue to publish on this blog stories about mom's care, ones that show how much we enjoyed caring for her.

There is a gaping hole in our lives right now. One that will never completely fill in. This is life at its most undressed.

Sigrid visits from Germany

Mom's friend of 58 years spent five days with us. The two of them went to grade school together and also worked in the airline industry at the same time, marlies for Lufthansa and Sigrid for Air France. They went to a six-month training program to understand flight payload planning and worked in the back office at the airport for close to 11 years.

During Sigrid's visit, we got out three times, for food of course.

Colossus Lingua

A strange sideeffect of the steroid Marlies is taking is an enlarged tongue, strikingly similar to a cow's. Hehe. We're kidding of course, she's got a piece of beef tongue in her mouth.

Goat-Butt Borritos, yum.

Marlies was treated over the weekend to some Mexican/Chilean food. Pictured from left to right: Maya (only grand out of the womb), Leah (significant mother/daughter out-law), Marlies, Patrick, and Michael (son in-law, literally... he's a lawyer). Kim is behind the camera.

Jesus pays a visit

Patrick has been with us the entire time but just missed out on the restaurant hopping. He's busy with his Rocknocerus children's rock outfit as well as teaching and rocking with Brainfang.

http://www.rocknocerus.com/

http://www.brainfang.com/

Chocolate keeps Marlies happy

Several packages from Germany have arrived in the last several weeks. The Fassbender & Rausch company out of Berlin is top notch confectionery (thanks Moni!).

Mom is still doing well. We are taking her back to the pizza place today, she's been craving it for the entire week. Mary Dell, we'll take a picture of the pizza this time.

Long lunch at 2 Amys in DC

We took mom to this unique pizzeria in the District today and had a great time. We also picked up some Beef tongue for tomorrow's breakfast (that's right Mary Dell, eat your tongue out).

A quick note about the comments on the blog. Mom loves them; she's just a bit too tired to dictate responses.

No platelets but a little dim sum

Our oncologist recommended against platelet tranfusions given the lack of severity of the current bruising and the limited effectiveness of these transfusion (2-3 days).

We were out again today for a pleasant dim sum at China Garden in Arlington, VA.

Lunch at Bistrot Lafayette

We had mom out of the house for the first time in two weeks for a nice lunch with family members. The restaurant is in Old Town Alexandria and worth a visit if you are in the area. We also drove by the (relatively) new World War II memorial on the Mall for a bit of sightseeing.

On a medical note, we are scheduling a blood test (for typing) in hopes of getting a transfusion of platelets to make Marlies more comfortable. Her current low platelet count leads to frequent and easy bruising.

Atlanta relatives come to visit

Marguerite and Alice just arrived from Atlanta for a two day stay. With mom having another good day, we enjoyed a nice lunch on the back porch. We're looking forward to catching up with our southern relations. - Brian

Brot mit Butter und Schinken

Heaven for mom is a nice piece of bread with butter and a little prosciutto or salami.