Been thinking about my last day with my best friend in 1998. He was in a hospice in Idaho, dying of pancreatic cancer. At one point I was sitting with him as he slept. Suddenly he opened his eyes and grinned. "All gone," he said. "All used up." Then he closed his eyes and was silent again.
The grin! All used up! I sensed both relief, satisfaction, celebration. He had used all the Life Force in his tank. Now it was empty. Time to go. The grin: but what a ride!
Something even more remarkable happened. It was time for me to go back to Portland. Again he appeared to be asleep. I kissed him on the forehead - and he said, "Lovely."
He died a week later. I returned and with his mother and two sons, we scattered his ashes off White Bird Hill above the Salmon River. He has a military plaque in White Bird cemetery.
The grin! All used up! I sensed both relief, satisfaction, celebration. He had used all the Life Force in his tank. Now it was empty. Time to go. The grin: but what a ride!
Something even more remarkable happened. It was time for me to go back to Portland. Again he appeared to be asleep. I kissed him on the forehead - and he said, "Lovely."
He died a week later. I returned and with his mother and two sons, we scattered his ashes off White Bird Hill above the Salmon River. He has a military plaque in White Bird cemetery.
posted from Bloggeroid
