Good Day Family, Friends, and Fellows of Gloria!
We wanted to take the time to update you all here, and give you some specifics for the future that we do know now. Keep in mind, there is still a lot we don’t know, but will give you an update here as things happen. First and foremost, Glo is on her final stage of life in this 75 year tour on Earth. We expect her passing any day now, but we do not know when. She is comfortable. She is at home with Hospice nurses visiting daily. She is at home with Jack & her kids, Dezi and Rye, with occasional visits and lots of love from her grandchildren, her friends, and neighbors. There is no shortage of love, blessings, prayers, and even food being shared right now, so Gloria will go out when she is dang good and ready! That’s how she would want it.
Gloria is not eating or drinking anymore, and she no longer really opens her eyes much. It’s a tough process to watch, but in the end, we are so grateful it has gone quickly and seemingly relatively pain-free. We had to make the call that there will be no more visitors other than her immediate family for the duration. It’s just too much to manage and she needs the quiet to make her passing. We apologize if this is difficult for some of you, and we will completely make time to talk to anyone who just wants to ‘connect’ after Gloria is at final rest.
In true Gloria spirit, we also wanted to share with you “the plan” as we know it going forward. Jack is going to stay in the Echo Lake house for as long as we can arrange for him to have daily check-in’s and support here. Brad has taken a leave of absence from work to be available for the first month or so (February) and Linds will be back and forth to Florida helping Jack in March/early April. As her kids, we will be creating a kind of ‘schedule’ that can help Jack as much as possible in this next transition, as we’d like to help him find a routine as quickly as we can. He’s a trooper and he is totally at peace with all of this adjustment so now we just want to help make him comfortable too.
Secondly, we will not be having a formal in-person funeral for Mom. It’s not what she wanted. She was so inspired by this website, your Zoom calls, and the outpouring of your love, photos and stories, that we all felt like we had the wake already–and she got to participate! She actually really appreciated that so much and there is no way we can thank you all for what you did. But to celebrate her life after her passing, here is the plan. If you’d like to participate in our Glo-bal Beach Celebration, click here. The idea is that we will send to any and all of you a small portion of Gloria’s ashes that you can scatter on your favorite beach anywhere in the world. Her dream was to go to all 7 continents in this lifetime. So you can literally take her with you anywhere. Lindsay has a friend going to Antarctica this year and intends on having that continent covered! And all other continents and beaches would be her dream to be on! We’d love to hear your stories right back here on this website of where you took Glo with you on your travels. Traveling all over the world was her greatest accomplishment (other than maybe her grandchildren graduating college). 😉
The last thing we’d like to respectfully request is that you not post on Facebook or other social media sites any information about mom’s passing, or how you’ll miss her, or whatever. As a family, we want to connect with and notify people on our time, rather than field hundreds of calls, texts, emails, and Facebook trolls looking for this kind of information to ‘sell us’ something. If you would like to share “Glo info” with anyone else that you know might want to hear about her passing, feel free to send an email or text to them with this website address. We are fielding questions, comments, calls, texts, etc. as fast as possible. Linds has taken on the role of family communication central, and you can always text her at 206-409-4866 or email her at lindsay@teambe.com. If you don’t hear anything back right away, its likely because there is nothing new to report.
Both of us feel like we are so cared for, and want to keep in touch with all of you as we embark in a new chapter of our own lives without Mom.We thank you all for your love, well-wishes, support for our parents and all of us too. It’s been an incredible journey helping Mom transition, and one that will forever change our lives. We are grateful and humble. If we can do anything at all to assist you or your loved ones through this kind of process, by all means let us know. We’d be delighted to be of service.
With love and a big high-five from Gloria to all of you,
