And off I go to heaven
- Jane
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
10.2.26
Monday
My car is packed. I say goodbye to Coby and the wwoofers, Charlie and Valden.
I choose a podcast and set off on the hour-and-a-quarter drive to our hut.
I’m excited.
I can’t remember the last time I was there on my own.
Gil knows how stressed I get when I can’t get on top of my work.
I need quiet time.
My household is usually full of travellers and tenants, and it’s a challenge to find that peace.
I manage though. Sort of.
But Gil kept insisting.
Go to the hut for a few days. Judy (Yasha’s nickname) and I will look after nana. It’ll be fine.
So we locked in a few days when he could work from home and visit mum.
It’s already late, 9pm, when I arrive.
The grass is neatly mown and the hut is cosy and clean.
I feel happy and comforted that Gil is caring for it so well.
I don’t know what to do first.
I came up here to work on mum’s book, but instead I want to tidy this, fix that.
I have itchy fingers and an easily distracted mind.
In fact, at this very moment I’m writing this story instead of working on mum’s book — which has now stretched into four drawn-out years.
I’m moved and have an urge to put my feelings into words. Now..
Tuesday
My first morning work session backfires. It’s already 1.30pm and I’ve done everything possible except the actual work. One of those things includes writing out a ‘Caring for Nana’ guideline for Gil and Yasha to follow while I’m here.
Here’s the list. I’m aware that it sounds obsessive.
Porridge:
If nana hasn’t eaten her porridge, heat it up. Honey should already be added, otherwise she wont eat it
Banana:
Offer her 1/3 of a banana, cut into small slices with honey drizzled over the top. Feed her with a fork, or let her feed herself. It’s pot luck - sometimes she enjoys it, sometimes not.
Bread:
Take a slice of bread from the kitchen freezer. Cut off the crusts. Spread with butter, jam and peanut butter (There’s a container with butter/margarine/ jam/honey in mum’s room, on the shelf behind the ‘Please Read’ sign.)
Tea:
Prepare it in a mug, then transfer it to a plastic cup she can easily hold.
Reheat if it gets cold :-)
Apple juice can be left in plastic cup.
At dinner (5pm), nana also gets a soft-fried egg. She doesn’t really like it (she’s lost the taste for it) but keep persevering. Try to give her even a little bit before she refuses or spits it out.
Hopefully the dinner tray will be left in her room so you can offer her the porridge (if she hasn’t eaten it) when you arrive.
Bed angle:
Make sure it’s at least at a 45 degrees, and the white bed table is close so she can help herself to a drink.
Massage:
She loves all massage - her scalp, the back of neck, her ears, hands and arms.
TV:
She likes programs with subtitles so she can read along, though these days she seems interested in almost anything
Main light:
Make sure it’s turned off
Window:
Keep it closed if it’s hot. Open it to air the room if it’s cooler.
At the bottom I add:
‘You can be much looser than this list :-)
Here, in this haven, I think about mum. Now over 102 years old, she’s too fragile to come up here anymore.
She can’t even move around in a wheelchair.
The sharp movements, the bright light, the noise…it would all be too much for her.
But even if she’s not here, her presence is still strong. In every corner.
I can see her looking up at the tall trees, hands raised in prayer, blessing them and the blue sky above.
Every moment here she would be in awe, blessing her little, simple hut, surrounded by the sound of stillness.
I’ve seen her do this so many times.
Now here I am, on my own, and yet I don’t feel alone.
I’m surrounded by love and memories.
I have time to soak it all in, to untangle my crowded mind.
May this precious hut,
Marysia’s Majatek, Marysia’s Treasure
continue to nurture others.
I bless mum for what she created from a dream — a vision formed while she was a teenager in the camps 80 years ago.
A dream she never thought would come true.
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