Clara Catherine Pluister Zuidema

My dear grandmother, Clara Zuidema, passed away on Sunday, September 26. She was 95 years old and completely ready to meet her Lord and Savior.

Maybe a week or so before she died, she went into the hospital with pneumonia, which is never good, but especially when you're 95 years old. She was doing okay for a few days - still eating and getting up to walk around a bit. As the week went on, she became weaker and lost some of the spunk she was known for.

I called her on Saturday to tell her she needed to get better so that she could meet Hope. She said, "I don't know, honey, I'm in the Lords hands now". I could tell she didn't want to fight. She was tired. She was ready.

Our family went down on Sunday to see her, thinking it could be only a matter of weeks until she died, not really thinking it would be that day. On our way down, my Aunt called to tell us that she was pretty much waiting for us to get there and then they would be just making her comfortable until the end.

When we got up to her room, I went over to hug and kiss her and she almost immediately asked "Where's your baby?" I brought Hope in and we got to snap a few pictures. It was hard to understand what she was trying to tell us with the big mask on, and she was getting really frustrated. After we had some time with her, the nurses came in to take off the mask and give her some morphine - we realized it would be only a matter of hours. We were all looking forward to the mask coming off so she could finally say whatever she had been trying to tell us. At one point, she was even trying to spell something, which we still couldn't make out. Anyhow, the nurse came in and gave her morphine, which immediately knocked her out. She never woke up.

She lasted about 2 hours before taking her last breath. We sang "It is Well" as she lay with her breathing steadily slowing down. We held her hand. We talked about her life. We cried.

I am so thankful that we got to say goodbye, that she got to meet Hope and that she died very peacefully. She was a woman of faith, and while I wish I had more time with her while she was alive, I know she is in heaven with our Lord.