miss anita

My plan for today was to go visit her in the hospital.  She was in a regular room and things went bad and she went to be with her Lord late yesterday afternoon.  We are all still in shock, literally, to lose someone so full of love and life.  It has been a rough couple of months for the hospital crew losing Kelly Jo, Elizabeth, Sharon and now our beloved Anita.  

When we first began working together she, like Sharon, was a ward clerk which means you took care of EVERY little thing, all on paper at that time.  Later she transferred to the lab and became our pathology secretary then learned phlebotomy and took to the halls with a tray full of needles and a big smile.  She did it for years and years all the while juggling a family that included two loving children and several grandkids.  We shared a lot of laughter and tears together over her mama Miss Annie and the things she would come out with in her advanced state of dementia.  Nita would come home to find stuff hidden in every nook and cranny where her mama had been "busy."  For the past few years Miss Annie lived with her.  

When I went out on medical leave she was on unpaid family leave to care for her mama.  She returned later only to come down with a nasty pneumonia that gave everybody a scare but she made it.  I last talked with her a few weeks ago when I called to check in and she sounded weak.  Told me she had pushed too hard to try and keep going.  That was just her.  Hers was the voice I heard when the call came that my Daddy had died.  She was there when I got to 2N waiting to comfort me.

I can honestly say I've never known a tighter knit clan than hers.  There were regular Coleman family reunions, usually with her at the helm.  She never missed church or bible study at Jones Street Church of Christ.  Her faith gave ME faith.  

She was a maniac Choctaw fan for any sport.  Her granddaughters are star basketball players and her son is a football coach.  She lived and breathed for her family.  She was their rock and I can't imagine their agony and pain over losing her so early in life.  She always told me she would be retire when she got 62 but we never know what's around the corner.  

My heart goes out to all of you.....Kenje and Amber, Lisa and Chris and all the grandchildren.  You are not alone in your grief.  Be strong and hold each other tight knowing that you all were the light of her life.  

^j^