rss rss rss
  • About
Between The Lines, News and Culture / Nov. 26, 2011 / by Amy DuFault / 0 Comments

Between the Lines: Giving Thanks for Imelda

Conscious life, hear me roar.

The night before Thanksgiving, my family was safely tucked in their beds all under one roof. With my parents visiting for the holiday, we play a little bed scramble: My mom always takes my daughter’s bed upstairs, my daughter and I sleep in my bed, my husband sleeps on the couch, my son in his own bed and my dad, down in the guest room where he can snore his nostrils off in the peace of a well-insulated room.

At around 4 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, my mother came rushing into my bedroom and whispered that there was an ambulance out front. My room had become a carnival of lights swirling round. I jumped out of bed, threw on my winter boots and jacket, and ran out the door into the dark cold with tears already streaming down my face.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know what was going on.

My neighbor, Imelda, is 91 and is at that point where sometimes she forgets our names, will tell the same story after five minutes and likes tight hugs where she never once did. This is a woman who has been a surrogate great-grandmother to my children for 13 years, has babysat, given me cups of flour and sugar and listened to me over coffee when I felt no one else would.

She is most certainly my friend, but fears for my life in the ever after as I have different beliefs from her. In fact, we’ve had a secret pact for years that whoever dies first has to do something like knock a book or a glass off a ledge to prove there’s an after life. She always laughs and says she knows she’ll go first but I tell her life is pretty random. You never know when a safe could be falling out a window…

In the cold, I stood at the foot of her gravel driveway, a place where we often meet and chat; moments later, her son (visiting from North Carolina) came out to brief me.

A basic need to use the bathroom had resulted in her falling, hitting her skull on a side bed table, striking open an artery and her son walking in to find his mother lying in a pool of blood – still trying to press her necklace that alerts people somewhere, that a 91-year-old woman needs help and might just die if they don’t come quick.

“They’re taking her to the hospital now,” he said looking at me for an answer.

If you’ve ever stood at night bathed in ambulance light, you might know that feeling of how fleeting life is – that we are always at the mercy of fate.

In that moment of cold, being half-asleep and looking from the outside in to her home, I felt such remorse for how busy I’ve been with work and family that I couldn’t have visited with her more the past six months just to sit and have coffee, bring her something hot to eat, play a hand of Gin Rummy and tease her that there’s no god.

Helpless, I walked across the street, kicked off my boots, hung my coat and snuggled back in with my daughter who was still sweetly sleeping and sighing in her dreams.

Later that morning, Imelda’s son came in to tell us that she was going to be all right, but remain in the hospital for a few days. That she was lucky. That she was as feisty as ever and wanted to go home.

When she does return, I will visit with her by her wood stove and make fun of her as she drinks whiskey from a styrofoam cup, while she deals me a weak hand and waxes passionately about why I need faith, need to stop leaving my family to go to New York City so much, need to put a new coat of paint on my house.

In the ticking of the warm room, I can look into her eyes knowing a secret. You see, one of her biggest dreams has always been that someone would find her interesting enough to write about; to know that she made an impact in this life that surpassed a girlhood in Grand Falls, New Brunswick where she married young, had five kids and “did her best.”

In this life, she has been everything to me, has never cared about my life as a fashion writer or editor, just that she matters to me.

This week’s column is dedicated to Imelda Morin, a 4’8″ woman from Canada who hates swearing, blasphemy and loose women.
Who I gave thanks to on Thursday at dinner, along with my entire family, that she’s still alive as you read this.

Between the Lines, is a weekly column navigating the sometimes-sharp, sometimes-blurred lines of life and culture between city and country.

Image: Horia Valdan

Written by: Amy DuFault

Leave Your Response

Pages

  • About

Categories

  • Between The Lines
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • News and Culture
  • Series
  • The Tailor Project
  • Uncategorized
  • Video

Archives

  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • April 2021
  • November 2020
  • April 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • February 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009

News and Culture

RISD’s The Nature Lab Virtual Series on Regeneration

Apr. 06, 2021 / 0 Comments

I have been working with the amazing...

The Great Fantastic on 3 Go-To Books For the Entrepreneur Wanting More

Mar. 04, 2019 / 0 Comments

(A Holiday Reminder) The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Nov. 27, 2018 / 0 Comments

BF+DA Research Fellow Russell Joye To Focus on Helping Dad with Parkinsons

Oct. 30, 2018 / 0 Comments

Sharon Rowe Tackles Tiny Businesses Going Big in New Book

Aug. 16, 2018 / 0 Comments

LISTEN: Laura Forlano on Designing Textiles for Equality & Justice

Jun. 19, 2018 / 0 Comments

Digital Existentialism & the Jacquard Loom

May. 25, 2018 / 0 Comments

One Woman’s Smart Sanitary Pad Helping Women Take Health Back

May. 21, 2018 / 0 Comments

The BF+DA Kicks Off Futureworks Fashion Tech Residency

Dec. 12, 2017 / 0 Comments

Knitted Rooms at New York Textile Month

Sep. 25, 2017 / 0 Comments

Food

Microspin Founded By An Engineer to Curb Farmer Suicides

Mar. 29, 2018 / 0 Comments

For Food & Fiber, Hemp Garners New Interest Among Farmers

Mar. 15, 2018 / 0 Comments

Harvesting Secret Sea Silk From Clams

Sep. 11, 2017 / 0 Comments

On a Rest Stop With The Great American Farm Tour

Aug. 08, 2017 / 0 Comments

CROSSOVER: The Unlikely Fusion of Fast Food & High Fashion

May. 10, 2015 / 0 Comments

21 Pickup Lines for Foodies with Seasonal Eating Depression

Mar. 10, 2014 / 0 Comments

All those root vegetables got you down?...

21 Pick Up Lines For Harvest Season

Oct. 21, 2013 / 0 Comments

Written by Amy DuFault and Anna Brones...

21 Pick Up Lines For People That Only Eat Organic

May. 10, 2013 / 0 Comments

Are you as pure as your kale?...

23 First World Foodie Problems

Apr. 25, 2013 / 0 Comments

This Mobile Food Canning Operation Goes Where It’s Needed Most

Mar. 25, 2013 / 0 Comments

Sites that inspire

  • Ecouterre
  • © Copyright Amy DuFault, Sustainable Fashion Writer, Consultant, Activist / All Rights Reserved.
  • Premium WordPress Themes / Theme by wpStyles.org