.....Homage to Sergey Smirnov & Sacred Sunday

I spent almost 4 hours today just chatting with a woman who has lived a long life and is facing the end of this part of her journey.
I sat at the side of her bed and we sipped green tea and ate chocolate truffles.

She told me time really goes very fast...each day whizzes by...
She told me how she isn't able to do some of the things she loved so much doing...but that there are some new things she still wants to learn...like how to paint the ocean waves..
Her hands are swollen and giving her grief...Its hard to grip things but her hands still move so gracefully as she speaks and her nails are beautifully manicured.

She said she has few regrets about how she has lived her life

She told me that there are times in life when you just need a good laugh
....and that life often dishes you up stuff that leaves you no choice but to laugh....she told me she did cry when the dr. told her to get her affairs in order....but she is not afraid of death.

She is grateful for each day but does not want to live too much longer because her body is failing her...
she said she cry's sometimes because of the pain but doesn't like the pain meds because they make her loopy
She had me feel her biceps...to prove she exercises her upper body
...big guns! really...and her so tiny

She told me not to let mean people into my life and to cherish my friends..
She told me not to work very late in my studio..that it is important to spend evenings with my husband...

She said that all her life she was a horrible speller but all of a sudden she can spell all kinds of words....she thinks it's because she fell recently and hit her head.

She shared with me that to her,
gossip is one of the worst offenders when it comes to hurting people...
She said she stopped listening to it years ago...
she went on to tell me she tells people off now who start to gossip and that she would really like to hit the gossiper with her cane!

She said she still loves her husband after being married for 64 years!
She said she feels better when he climbs into bed with her on bad nights

She said the hardest thing is losing a child and she wishes people were kinder to children.

She can't wait to see her garden when all the flowers start to bloom...

She showed me photos of when she was a teenager and first in love with the man she married...I noticed how beautiful she still is...

She told me what a nice family she has, of which I am part of...
She told me she loves me and that she is proud of me
..and I told her the same.

We agreed that we should never kiss good bye on the lips because of germs,
and then we did.