92 and 11/12

Subtitle: A Call for Community  
Please read to the end.

This is an extra post for Tuesday, October 15th.  The official post for the day is called "The Trees We Planted."

Margie, my mother-in-law is counting birthdays in fractions these days. She will be 92 and 11/12 tomorrow (October 16th)...and on November 16th she will be 93.   

Yesterday...after a lovely morning drive with our house guests....we got a call that Margie had a fall and was on her way to the hospital. Needless to say we dropped our guests at the condo (they had a car so were fine on their own) and spent the rest of the day with Margie and her medical providers when she found out that she had broken her hip. Our boys joined us late in the day and we stood around her bed laughing and talking baseball and sharing her favorite potato chips. Her local family community had gathered...and we knew that all would be well.

Fast forward to this afternoon where she had successful surgery to repair the break. She will spend some time in rehab after her hospital stay....then eventually get back to her assisted living apartment where she can get the continued care she will need to regain her strength and mobility. All will be well.

Here's where you have the opportunity to create community....if you are willing.

Margie is an amazing woman who is attentive to and thoughtful about others and chooses to fill her day with things that bring her understanding....comfort and joy. I have known her for 45+ years...and she has gotten to know another side of me through this blog. She reads it every single morning....so she is an active part of this joyful puttering community.

I had already decided that I was going to nudge friends and family to send her birthday cards....but I am widening the circle and scope and I'm going to ask everyone I know to send her a card if they are willing. Absolutely NO pressure! 

But if you choose to participate you could send a get well card.....or a birthday card. It could be a funny card about life...and growing older (she has a great sense of humor)....or it could be a card about hope and joy.

I want to shower her with words of encouragement during this next month as she heals and rehabs and as she celebrates her 93rd birthday. Let's remind her how big her community is...and that it can even include people she's never met.

Margaret Shupe

620 Ocean Ave

#103

Portland ME 04103

Thank you in advance! Seriously....there is no pressure! Just sending joyful vibes is enough.

MaryAnn