Sad News

Thought for the day:  It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we love. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.  [Lemony Snicket]

It isn't as though I expected her to live forever. We've known since the middle of June that her time was running out. Still, one can't help but hope.

Doctors don't know everything, right?

But it seems, that this time, they did. I'm sorry to say that my husband's dear mother has died.

What can I say about her? She was what she was. No airs about her. She never pretended to be anyone other than who she was, or pretended to know anything she didn't know. Salt of the earth, you might say. A loving mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great grandmother, and friend. Generous to a fault, without expecting anything in return. Kind, but fiercely protective of the people she loved. And as she approached the end, she faced it not only with grace and good humor, but with eager anticipation. It was like she had her bags packed and was waiting on the street corner for an overdue bus. She was ready to go. Said she had a good life, and no regrets. Yes, she was ready... but we weren't. The world is a sadder place without her.

4th of July

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come. [Rabindranath Tagore]

So, needless to say, I'll be away from the Blogosphere for a while. We're off to Baltimore again, but this time, the trip will be painfully bittersweet. Our loss is Heaven's gain.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross said, I've told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation.

I rather like that way of thinking. Don't you?
















                             Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

For death is no more than turning of us over from time to eternity. [William Penn]

Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them. [George Eliot]

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.  [Mark Twain]