Margaret

 I haven't posted for a while because I haven't had much to share. I have done so much reading and playing games on my Galaxy tablet the past few weeks, I decided last night to do something different: color an autumn picture.

 I will have some nerve root block injections this Thursday (the 29th) at L5, a level lower than the last injections. Though I had less leg pain, the back and buttocks pain did not get better with the L4 injections. We will see what L5 tells us. The lessening of pain in my thighs is starting to disappear. Now the left leg again has a stabbing pain at times. It has been a little over a month since the L4 injections.

When my husband and I took over the supervision of the Grace Village library in February 2012, Margaret was already working there. I went to her funeral today. She was 101 when she died. I had not kept in contact with her for several years, especially when she moved to healthcare and the pandemic shut out visitors. I think I sent her one card, but I didn't try calling as she could not hear well enough on the phone. She had a wonderful smile and laugh; several people mentioned that about her today. I wish I had made more efforts to send her cards and notes so she could have had more smiles.

People shared memories. One woman had been a child living next-door to Margaret and her husband and eventually 4 boys. Her missionary parents in Argentina shared a building that had been divided into two apartments. Margaret became "Aunt Margaret" in her eyes.

Margaret was 90 years old when I met her, heading for her 91st birthday in about 3 months. She was an avid reader and sharp as a tack. I observed some aspects of her personality that were not shared today.

 She was spunky. While most of the retirement residents would not use the library stepstool, Margaret shelved books on the top shelves regularly. I watched closely the first time I saw her doing that. She carefully placed each foot firmly on the stool and just as carefully placed them on the floor when she was done. I had no qualms about her activity. When she reached age 95 or 96, I suggested she leave the high shelving to me. She also did not have the strength at that time to shove books around on the shelves to make more room. I am trying to remember when the two of us had a chat and decided she no longer had the stamina for that kind of work. She was 96 I think.

 She had been typing the book spine labels; unfortunately, the typewriter part that allowed one to roll the sheet of labels into the platen broke off. Grace Village could find no replacement part to fix the typewriter nor repair service for such an old machine; we were forced to generate labels using the computer. Margaret was pretty sure she didn't want to use the computer. I think she was almost 97 when she "retired".

She sat next to me in the alto section of the choir. Our director did not have a strong voice; many singers could not hear her announcement by title of moving on to a different piece. I knew that was a problem for Margaret. I would pull out the piece and show her. She sang on-key most of the time though her hearing gradually got worse; finally, she recognized that she could no longer participate in vocal and chime choir because of her profound hearing loss. It was a sad day.

She was not shy about sharing her opinion on any suggested changes to the library. I forget what my husband suggested, but she dug in her heels and said no. Of course, unless the changes directly affected her, she knew she had to accept them. She was not in charge.

 She chided me once for weeding out some old book-of-the-month-club books. I had placed the withdrawn books on the give-and-take table. She had taken them to reread. These were mostly published in the 1940's and 1950's, and I doubt most people were familiar with the authors (I wasn't). But she considered them treasures. We had to make more shelf space, and these seemed good candidates, not only because they were old (but not classics), but the print was very small. I was surprised she could read such fine print. Her hearing might not be good, but her eyes still worked great.

One time when I mentioned to her that I was taking a book over to Assisted Living for Kathryn (the fellow missionary she knew in Argentina), she confided to me that she and her husband tried to avoid eating at Kathryn's place while missionaries because Kathryn wasn't a very good cook. Today several people mentioned how Margaret was excellent at feeding crowds of people tasty food. Probably Kathryn's cooking was passable but not up to the standards of Margaret at least not in Margaret's opinion.

Speaking of cooking, my husband at my request helped me with the preparation of the two Home Chef meals we received Thursday. They were considered "oven-ready" but did require washing produce, adding seasonings and making sauces. He did a good job. I haven't been ordering many because of the expense, but I kept my membership because if I have surgery these might be do-able for him.