I had attended the same church as Sister Eleanor, but we never really met at church. She was much older and not long after I started attending, she stopped due to declining health and mobility. But I knew of her, I knew she was a strong woman of God. I didn't actually meet her, until the church announced they would be gathering at the nursing home she was at to celebrate her 99th birthday. At that time, I was a single mother, two children honestly, we were poverty level, barely making ends meet, but the nursing home was walking distance from our home, so I was excited to join the celebration with my children. I was surprised that when we arrived, no one from the church was there! There was another family there, who turned out to be a neighbor of ours. We made friends with Sister Eleanor and the Miller family quickly. We were having such a good time! Next thing we knew, staff came in looking surprised to see us all. The party had been canceled! Sister Eleanor had the flu! The church didn't tell me because they didn't know we planned to join them. Sister Eleanor had dementia, so she had forgotten! We all decided since we had already been there for forty five minutes, if we were going to catch anything, it would have been caught already and continued to celebrate!
This was the beginning of a very special relationship that I enjoyed with Sister Eleanor. I tried to visit once a week. I would take my Bible and read to her. If you went to visit and let her lead the conversation, she had a series of questions she would cycle through, but when I read the Bible, the dementia disappeared, and she taught me! I needed taught too! I had very little understanding of the Word, we attended church so sporadically in my childhood there wasn't much that stuck, and most of my adult life was plain rebellion.
Sister Eleanor passed away on her 102nd birthday in 2018, no doubt she received the best birthday gift possible, her homecoming to be with her first love, Jesus Christ. I have loved this woman with such a deep love and will always cherish the memories I shared with her.
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