The Passing

The Passing

It was evening and I was alone in the car. Enjoying the time alone when I noticed my hands on the steering wheel had a pink cast to them. A rosy glow. I looked in the mirror and it was in my face too ... filling the whole car. It was almost sunset that in between dusk and night. Once I heard it called the "gloaming" ... that magical time when the whole world has an orange ... pink .. color as night is about to fall. If there is such a thing ... this was it. The sun was huge slipping slowly down over the horizon .. beautiful..but then as if someone tapped me on the shoulder and said "look on the other side" ... I saw it .. the moon was rising directly across from the sun. Silver .. bigger than I had ever seen it. It was as if you reached out you could touch it. It was a harvest moon .. a Friday the 13th and a shiver ran through me. It was a knowing of something to come. Then my thoughts turned to her . .loving thoughts .. smiles .. and so thankful for the extra time I had spent with her lately. It was hard to see her that way but the peace that came with this moment was as if she was in the car with me ... she was the pink glow. I realized the natural world was reading for the event soon to come ... the sunset .. the moon .. a symbol of leaving. Letting one thing go and opening up another. This is it . .it is almost time to say goodbye. I was right.

Death did not come as a thief in the night. She was worthy of more than that. It came on a chariot as if to retrieve and old friend. Take her back to the place where she began. We all know the place ... most of us forget .. but there are times when little pieces of it come back. Church bells on a cold winter day .. your newborn's first cry .. the very first snowflakes ... we feel it .. then we reason it away. But our soul remembers.

It was her time. I knew that. We had talked about it. She was ready. And yet it was surreal. Gathered in the room with her .. sobbing ... knowing we had to let her go .. wanting to let her go .. stop the suffering. It was a strange mix of emotions .. memories .. deep sadness and yet glorious joy. Holidays .. Sunday dinners .. unconditional love .. her laugher. It was all there. The love in the room was so intense you could feel it. She had given each one of us our own gifts .. and as you looked around you could see on every face .. their own memories flooding through their mind. She was the tie that had bound us for so long.

She was the beginning. We all knew that and now she was leaving us.

What a privledge to witness her passing. To be there with her. I am certain nothing will compare to that moment in my life. To watch a soul of that strength slip away. Knowing she was moving on .. to where she was meant to be.

To those of us who were listening we could hear the inaudible voices saying "welcome home Dorothy ... it has been a long time" ....

Until we meet again.