Candle in the Wind
Mahlmeister, Sandra
Candle in the Wind My mother, once so robust, alive, and graceful, lay in a hospital bed in the middle of our dining room, a makeshift bed- room on the first floor of the house. She had been...
...The last two weeks of her life were agonizing: They went very slowly...
...Silently, I said a prayer and lit the match...
...Through tears, my family recited the Shema, together—Sandra Mahlmeister...
...My sister, brothers, father, grandmother, and I said our goodbyes...
...She had been fighting cancer for nine months...
...Then we found a candle, a Shabbat candle, and placed it near her head...
...I've always loved that room best," she smiled...
...At the moment the candle took the flame, my mother's breathing stopped...
...The hardest thing I have ever done was pray to God to take my mother—to help her die...
...We watched her labored breathing for hours, helplessly...
...My mother was struggling with her breath, desperate to die...
...An old Jewish custom has it that when death is imminent, if a person lights a candle in the room where the goses—the dying person—lies, then God will help the spirit find its way out of the body...
...From her bed, she peered across the foyer into the living room...
...Throughout those nine months, I questioned God...
...Even during her illness, she was still teaching us how to live...
...Candle in the Wind My mother, once so robust, alive, and graceful, lay in a hospital bed in the middle of our dining room, a makeshift bed- room on the first floor of the house...
...Now I have a clear view of it all the time...
...She said she was ready to go, and as much as we had been fighting for her life, we knew it was time...
Vol. 27 • February 2002 • No. 1
