95 Years Old

On September 22nd my Mother-In-Law Martina would have been 95 years old.  Sadly, she didn't quite make it to this milestone.  She passed away just before midnight on Saturday September 13th.

Martina suffered from Dementia and was not able to communicate with anyone for the past couple of years.  The only person that she really recognized was my wife Margarit.  In the days leading up to her passing she refused food and water, and just eventually drifted away.  I spent most of the last day there with Margarit and my brother-in-law Shawn, as Oma drifted away.  We kind of expected that in her typical stubborn Austrian manor she would hang on until my sister-in-law Natalia arrived.  But she didn't make it.

I stopped by her residence around 11:30 to drop off some food and a change of clothes for Margarit during her vigil.  Oma seemed to be in a deep sleep and was breathing peacefully, unlike earlier in the day.  About 10 minutes after I left, Margarit said that she just stopped breathing.

She was born in Austria and lived through the Second World War.  She lost several family members during the war and eventually moved to Canada around 1960.  Her life was long, and she mostly lived in good health, at least until the end.  Of course there were good times and bad times, but in the end it was very calm and peaceful.

On September 22nd, her actual birthday, I understand that Margarit baked a Sacher Torte as a birthday cake to celebrate the day.  It is a traditional cake from the Sacher Hotel in Vienna, and a favorite of Oma's.  The family all had a piece of cake and sang happy birthday to her.  Sadly Hailey and I missed out on it, as we were in Nordegg.