Mom loved to dance the polka. She and Dad went dancing almost every week. If there was a polka band playing, they were there...dancing. After Dad died, Mom got sick and there was no more dancing. It broke my heart to watch her waste away. Hospice at Home asked if she had any last wishes. Mom was barely a hundred pounds when she told Hospice at Home she wanted to polka again.

Since it was near her birthday, I got her all dolled up, lipstick, red shoes and all, and the Hospice at Home staff and volunteers chauffered her to the Dank Club in Benton Harbor, where she danced the night away in her wheelchair as one of her favorite bands played polka after polka. She was beaming. Mom went peacefully later that week.