Syttende Mai

It's Tuesday evening but I better get started on this blog so it's ready for Thursday.  Can't be late with this one!  Seven years ago we arrived in Norway the day before the big parade in Oslo with hundreds of school children taking part wearing their best,which was often a bunad.  We were on a Brekke bus tour and it was great.  We couldn't have had better travelling companions and the schedule was wonderful too.  We spent two nights in most places so didn't have to be packing and unpacking every day.  I'll have to get out our video tapes and relive some of that day, a dream come true.

Well, that's as far as I got on Tuesday and our 17th of May blog never got finished.  On Wednesday morning the lockdown at St. Joseph's was lifted after nine days.  I was looking forward to finally visiting Howard.  But along with the good news about the end of the lockdown, the nurse had some news that wasn't good.  Howard's oxygen level wasn't where it should be.  The Dr. put him on oxygen and a nebulizer and that had helped to stabilize him.  I said that I would be in after lunch, emailed the kids and went back to cleaning the fridge.  An hour or so later, the nurse called again saying that Howard's oxygen level was not staying at a good level.  That didn't sound good so I called the kids and told them about the situation.  We all headed for Estevan with Todd in Norway keeping close contact. When we got there, Howard was in his room hooked up to the oxygen but was not conscious.  His breathing was labored and fast.  He remained in that condtion the rest of the day.  Laurel and I stayed overnight and the boys went home.  We had the use of the family room with leather sofas, pillows and blankets.  Dr. Christie came in around 11, checking on Howard's condition.  The chest x-ray taken that afternoon showed pneumonia in both lungs.  Dr. Christie called it progressive pneumonia and said "I don't think he's going to make it".  Laurel and I took turns staying with him and there was no change throughout the night.  The nurses came in off and on, turning him, giving him tylenol suppositories for his fever, swabbing his mouth, putting wet cloths on his forehead and administering morphine to relax his muscles to ease his breathing.  Kirk came in the morning.  Just before ten Howard's breathing seemed to change.  As we gathered around his bedside his breathing stopped, then resumed. This went on for a few minutes until he took his last breath.  We called the nurse and she confirmed that his heart had stopped beating.  I was so thankful that we could be with him and share his "time to die".  Our hearts were broken but we were comforted knowing that this was not the end of his life, but he had moved on to be with the One who had created him and prepared a place to spend eternity.  He has gone ahead of us and his spirit will always be with us.

Today is Sunday.  Todd and Kristy arrived in Regina right on time last night.  Laurel and the kids were there to meet them and brought them to the farm.  Ardis, Kris and family drove in after we had gone to bed.  I didn't hear them come, but saw their van in the yard when I woke up at two and checked to see if they had made it safely.  Sandra is here with Mareena, Rick and Mandy and their families. The rest of their family will be coming tomorrow as well as my brothers, Merv and Alan and some of their families. We have been blessed with wonderful gifts of food, everything we need and more has been supplied.  Although it is a time of grieving, we are also celebrating the life of our beloved Howard.  We will be sharing memories and crying and laughing as we do. This afternoon we will meet with Pastor Danny to plan the funeral service.  It will be at 10:30 on Tuesday morning at Trinity Lutheran in Torquay.  Lunch and visiting will follow and then we will proceed to Salem cemetery just two miles north of our farm.  The children will be releasing red helium balloons as we lay his earthly body to rest.

So the 17th of May has taken on a new meaning for us.  Howard's was 100 % Norwegian so it was appropriate that he be called Home on this special Norsk holiday.  He will be buried in a "Made in Saskatchewan" casket.  He was born in the Horace and Clara Johnson home a mile north of our farm where his parents lived until Ben and Gina Johnson retired and moved to Torquay.  He went to Tenold School, just half a mile south of our farm.  So he was born, baptised, schooled, farmed, lived and raised a family of four precious children within two miles. And now he rests in peace in a country cemetery with his father, mother, sister Doris, Johnson grandparents and many beloved neighbours.  Good-bye, Howard, until we meet again.