“Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans” – Popularized by John Lennon
We spent 10 days back in the US July 2024 for the birth of a granddaughter, some dental work and a visit with my parents. The we returned to St Kitts with the intention of completing the last 7 weeks of our mission assignment. Great plan, here’s what actually happened:
I must have contracted COVID on the return trip to St Kitts, as I developed symptoms and tested positive day or two after our return, so I quarantined until symptoms went away (about a week).
After that week, it became clear that my 92-year-old parents’ decline required my return to help my brother and sister-in-law take care of them. Susie stayed in St Kitts to complete a significant service project we had started (see next blog post) and then returned to St George three weeks after me.
It was a difficult time in St George tending to my parents and figuring out the right next steps. Eventually they both moved to a retirement facility in St George where my father could recieve round-the-clock hospice assistance. My father continued his decline and passed away on the evening of October 13th. Over the final few days his respiration rate had dropped, and he slept a lot, aided by morphine. By the end his respiration was down to two shallow breaths per minute as his body was shutting down. His breathing just quietly stopped and his pulse stopped a minute or so later. And that was it.
It was a profound thing to witness my father’s departure on the ultimate trip. I can’t begin to describe his influence on my life. I am glad to have had him for so long in my life, and to continue to have my mother in my life. Here is a link to his obituary.
We plan to stay in the St George area for the foreseeable future to continue helping with my mother and to prepare my parent’s house for eventual sale. We bought a car and will likely buy or build a house in this area. And so ends our 7 years of nomadic life as we put down some roots again. This is not end of travel, just the end of full-time travel. Next spring we are looking at doing another long walk, such as a different route of the Camino de Santiago.
Next up, one more post to go to cover the end of our time on St Kitts!
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