In this heartfelt memoir about her mother Hilda's final years, Joyce Rupp sharesthe lessons her mother taught her, especially to "fly while you still havewings." As a poor farmer's wife and the mother of eight living on rented land inMaryhill, Iowa, Hilda lived a life with hard labor and constant responsibility--frommilking cows and raising chickens to keeping the farm's financial ledger. Ruppshows how the difficulties of her mother's early years and family life, including theloss of a twentythreeyearold son, forged a resilience that guided her through theillnesses and losses she faced later on. This affectionate profile of their relationshipis, at the same time, an honest selfexamination as Rupp shares the ways she failedto listen to, accept, and understand her mother in her final years.Rupp begins each chapter with a meditative poem that captures the essence ofeach stage in the journey. Her unfailing candor and profound faith illumine thisstory of a mother and daughter with a universal spirit of hope, reconciliation, andpeace.Readers who care for the elderly will identify with the joys and sorrows that Ruppexperienced. Likewise, those who are grieving for a parent will find an open andsensitive portrayal of the conflicting emotions that arise in the process of lettinggo.

Anyone approaching their elder years will discover a model of how to enter theaging process with dignity and honesty that accepts the.