Twelve Hours

[Koliedrus]

Sid's mom just informed me that a terminally ill family member will die in 12 hours or less.

Yesterday's pothole seems so small.

[Mudflap]

I hear ya.

My grandfather is on borrowed time. I expect the phone call any day.

[Venus]

I feel for you both. I reciently had to do the single hardest thing I've ever done.

[Koliedrus]

No word yet.

Silent tension...

[Billyman]

Please accept my sympathies and my condolences in advance.

Jo’s grandmother passed a few months ago due to brain cancer. The doctors had her dieing on this night and that, she’d never make it through this day and that. 2 a.m. phone calls every other night saying “this is it, she’s coming to a close”. I made only a few but Jo made a trip to the hospital with every call she received. I lost count how many times they had written her off before she actually went. All this went on for 3 weeks.

[Koliedrus]

She held on until some of her closest loved ones could be near (she has a lot of them).

She left around 8pm yesterday.

Her life was full.
Cancer sucks.

[Mudflap]

You and your family have my condolences. I hope she went out peacefully and happy.

[Cruise Director]

For such a large country, I think we sit rather closely together.

Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. I found myself at the mortuary in a little town North of where I live. One of my best friends, Nikki, had her father pass quietly away after a 2 year bout with brain cancer. Apparently the last 6 months of Bill's life were not what one would call "quality." He had remarked about a month ago that "if you had a horse in this condition, you'd be kind enough to put it to sleep."

So there I was, sitting with about a hundred other people, participating in a service to honor Bill's life. His two kids spoke as well as a few other relatives and friends. The service was quite uplifting.

Two things that I left thinking about that day; One is that I will have to memorialize my dad the same way Nikki did one day. I hope I have the strength to do it as well as she did. The second was that I hope when I pass along, there are as many people at my service that will have as many nice things to say about me as they did about Bill.

[SimpleSimon]

Reading what Cruise had to say above gave me pause to think.

My family doesn't do funerals. At my father's death last year his body was cremated immediately after release by the medical examiner's office. That was in mid-February.

There was no family gathering, there was no funeral, there was no wake. We went on with our lives. Four months later we held a memorial for him, and interred his ashes where he wanted them to go - in his garden.

I was amazed by the turn-out. Over two hundred people spanning five generations, from all over this country and beyond. We set up a buffet on the patio he loved, under his grape arbor, and folks wandered around and talked, renewed acquaintances, reminisced, and quietly celebrated their common thread - my father.

No one is truly dead until the last person who loved them passes on.

[Lady Sianna]

so true, SS. love is indeed more powerful than death.

*hugs Kol & the Mrs.*

how about using that 87 billion for cancer research?

[Solstice_Gray]

*hug*

[Cruise Director]

Originally posted by SimpleSimon


I was amazed by the turn-out. Over two hundred people spanning five generations,



Funny that you should mention that. I sat immediately behind the deceased's sister. In her lap was her great neice. As I listened to the speakers I watched the baby play with the the lady's necklace and her hands. It was quite a juxtaposition to see the small, round and smooth hands in those weathered and aged hands of her Aunt. I put the transition at about 70 years.

[Koliedrus]

Better than any sympathy card or flower arrangement, the words I've read mean so much because I know they're sincere.

The effect of the few moments of thought you've directed toward us is radiant.

Today, my wife's mother called to remind me to dress the kids warmly because "all that ice will make you freeze to death."

"Hon, it's mild out."

"*guffaw* I'm still taking them to Disney on Ice and they're spending the night with me."

Love is truly a powerful thing, no matter it's definition.

Thanks, guys. We'll pass it along.

[PB]

A little late is better than never.. and my heart is always near yours anyways... Hugs to you and sid and the minikols.

Death is not a subject I can talk about today... you will understand some time or another.. EIther way.. my love goes out to your family, it never gets easier even when you have to go through it so many times in life... burying your loved ones takes out something that can not exactly be replaced.

Val

[ms. bing]

an english major at a loss for words.

death does that.

.

[Koliedrus]

Concentrate on Life, then. We are.