More Loss

My father passed away unexpectedly on April 4, 2009. He had numerous health problems, but seemed to be doing well and was following his doctors' orders. After a few days of not feeling well, and refusing my mother's offer to take him to the doctor, he slumped over at the kitchen table and died. He and my mother met when they were teens (18 and 16 respectively) and they were married for 43 years. Needless to say, she is devastated.

My brother and I flew home immediately, but since our lives take place far from our childhood home we were only able to stay for a short time. I hope the time we spent with mom was enough to help her gain some strength for the grieving process she must now face alone.



Death is Nothing at All
By Henry Scott-Holland

Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
Because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Dedicated to my dad, Vernon Stein. 1943-2009. RIP.