Ron spent his last three months at Burke Rehab Center where he interacted with much of the staff on a daily basis.
I had talked with Courtney on the phone, in the process of planning our trip to the area. We needed to make three stops on Monday---at the Cremation Center, at the Rehab Center, and at Ft. Belvoir.
I originally asked if we could plan to see her around 1:00. She had a doctor's appointment at 1:30, so I was worried about missing her, so I asked if there was another person's name she could give me. She said: "You don't understand. All you have to do is show up and people will come pouring out of the woodwork to see you all." I'll admit that I did not really understand that comment, but took it to mean they were interested and curious.
We actually showed up much earlier than anticipated, which is a good thing, because we spent quite a bit of time there.
They put the four of us in a conference room. And indeed, dozens of people poured in to meet us. I gather all of that is because they never had such a case before. a) of a person who professed to have not one single significant relationship in his life b) of a person for whom they had to search for weeks to find a next of kin c) of a family of daughters who had not seen their father in 38 years.
As we all spilled our stories, everyone kept saying--'you should write a book.' It was apparently a very interesting story to them. They brought out his possessions.....his wallet with a driver's license and photo, some savings bonds, and a laptop computer. Michelle immediately expressed an interest in the laptop. I gather she shares one with her husband at home. It went into a tote bag, and she held it from then on out.
We were fascinated by the photo ID of him. Priscilla had brought some photos to show the people there of him in his younger, healthier days. We wanted to see pictures of him when he was old. They wanted to see pictures of him when he was young.
He had obviously had really excellent care for his last three months by a group of caring and dedicated people.
We learned that even before he came to their Rehab, he was already on oxygen. He had improved significantly and expected to be released soon, though he would need oxygen wherever he went. Courtney told us that he was very anxious to get back to Texas, because he needed to do his taxes. It was already March, and he was concerned about that. She also said that he was also very anxious to get to his car. In fact, he was due to be released on a Monday, and when Courtney went home for the weekend, she expected to come back and help with that. Only, he had an episode over that weekend and passed away.
Courtney said she was totally shocked to hear that news. Despite his medical problems, it was unexpected, which probably means that he was not expecting it either.
No one ever knows the day or the hour.
It comes when least expected.
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