This blog is written in honor, and soon to be in memory, of my mother, Luz María Allende, who is in hospice care at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. My family has been struggling with the acceptance of her impending death. I feel I am entering into it with some measure of calmness because of my faith. I believe in the resurrection, as we confess weekly in worship, but that doesn’t fill the void that I’m sure I will feel once she is gone.

Today is Wednesday. I have services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. I begged off Easter Vigil, which is being done jointly with three other congregations, so that I could spend Saturday at the hospital. We don’t know how much time we have and I feel I need to be there with her. Even though she can’t talk and is asleep more often than she’s awake, she is conscious of the people around her. I only pray that I don’t receive one of those dreaded telephone calls late at night that can only mean one thing.