Taps
Dec 04, 2022 2:34 pm
Day is done, Gone the sun,
From the lake, From the hill,
From the sky.
All is well, Safely rest,
God is nigh.
Marguerite Ellen Todd died November 27, 2022 at 6 AM.
Honestly she went so fast that we didn't really have time to say goodbye. We put her on hospice on Thanksgiving day (Nov 24) as she had gone non-responsive again. We figured she was tired of fighting. In the last month she'd lost over 30 pounds between back to back septic infections.
So it is over. We've spent the last week just dealing with things and trying to get our lives reordered now that she isn't the central part of it. We are interring her and my father together in a concrete structure that will be placed on the ocean floor to provide foundations for coral growth.
www.eternalreefs.com They both loved to scuba dive so we think that is the best place for their ashes. We are planing on doing that in June. Now I wait for death certificates so I can finish all the paperwork involved in death. Needless to say there has been little writing of late which means everything is so horribly behind that I'm panicking, especially as my last day of my day job is Jan 13. All I can do is try to get settled down and focus.
Given what I've had going on, there isn't much to share and I don't feel like trying to promote anyone. I will say I did put the omnibus up for sale. If you wanted to get one of the limited edition omnibuses you can find them here. Let me know if you need me to put something else up. I figured out that one, so the rest should be easier.
https://badashpublishing.square.site/
Otherwise here is a story I wrote when my husband died in 2016. It seems very accurate today.
Waiting for Death
“It’s about time you got here.”
EXCUSE ME? Death blinked at the old woman staring at him, her arms crossed and a look of relief on her face.
“You heard me. I doubt you have any issues hearing anything.”
Death tilted in his head in acceptance, he did hear everything, but this reaction still was not one he got often.
“Oh, take a seat, I suspect you aren’t grabbing me for another few minutes. The pain in my arm just started.”
YOU ARE GLAD TO SEE ME? Death sat in the chair she had waved at, curious. Usually the only people who welcomed him were terminal patients tired of the pain. But this woman wasn’t terminal. She lived on her own and was sitting in the chair a smile on her face, as if seeing an old friend.
“Glad? I’ve been waiting a long time for you.” Amusement echoed in her voice as she rubbed her arm.
WHY?
This time she looked puzzled. “Why? How could I not? I waited for you in my forties when you took my husband. I waited for you in my fifties when you took my parents, and then I waited for you in my sixties when you took my brother. I had started to think I was cursed to always watch you take others.” Another sudden smile flitted across her face. “Always the mourner, never the mourned.”
AH. He fell silent looking at her, color had started to leach from her face. IS YOUR FAITH THAT GREAT? THAT YOU LOOK FORWARD TO HEAVEN?
“Were you the one who took Marcus Aurelius?”
The question confused him, but name sounded familiar and he had to think. NO, HE WAS LONG BEFORE I STARTED. MY PREDECESSOR TOOK HIM.
“I always thought he had the best of it. That if you live a good life you’re covered. I’m not perfect but have few regrets about anything I did. If any of the gods exist, and they are just, then those I love will be there waiting for me. If there are no gods, I lived a good life, one I am not ashamed of.”
Death looked at her, tilting his head as he watched pain start to pull at her smile.
AND IF THEY ARE CRUEL GODS?
She laughed, a true honest laugh, bright eyes looking at him even as she winced. “Then I expect my husband and my brother have made their existences a living hell, and they’d better be ready for more, because the cavalry is coming and I’ve got a few bones to pick with them.”
Laughter bubbled up inside Death, something he hadn’t felt in a long time. So many people fought and begged him not to take them, or they just wanted respite from pain. Here was a warrior that walked into the darkness not knowing what was there, and facing it with joy. All in the frame of a frail old woman, with laughter in her eyes.
THEN LET US GO AND SEE WHERE YOUR GOOD LIFE TAKES YOU.
He reached out a hand, expecting her to flinch at the bony digits, but she took it, standing and shedding her body like soiled clothes.
“Yes, let’s go. I’m ready to see what happens next.”
Death stayed silent, but smiled as she walked beside him into the dark.
~*~
Yeah, I still think it is perfect. Here's to a new year and new opportunities. Maybe in two weeks I'll be ready to embrace them. Now it just seems like a mountain of things to do and no time to grieve.
Mel
Schedule 2022:
WRITE!!!!!!
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