Posted on 04/05/2009 12:05:50 PM PDT by Bokababe
My father died alone, surrounded by all of us who loved him. His beloved breath was labored for the last, long, eight hours of his life while we hung on every whisper of air that kept him alive. In the living room, my mother, brother, sister and I talked quietly about the past and a future without him. I'd known him all of my life. He was as familiar to me as my own face in the mirror each morning. His impending death was incomprehensible, even to a Christian soul. Funny, we intellectually expect the arrival of death someday, but emotionally we're never prepared. I didn't know how it would feel to lose anyone I loved. My dad was the first.
(Excerpt) Read more at whitebunnyranch.com ...
“My father died alone, surrounded by all of us who loved him.”
?????????????????
Yep..., that brings back some thoughts to me. My dad died alone in the Skilled Nursing facility, where he was at, before he was improved enough to go home. But, he was having trouble “improving” at that point in time, though.
I had been going back and forth from the facility and back home again, several times a day. And in one of those “in-between times” he died. It was in the middle of the afternoon and it was peaceful and quiet for him, so that’s fine. And he did know the Lord, so now I say, my dad is “in government work” these days. He’s being prepped to be part of the coming world-wide government that is going to be installed on this earth and he will be part of the ruling and reigning over the nations of this world, when the time comes for the Messiah of Israel to establish *His government* over this world. That time is coming soon.
So, although I was hoping to have him stick around long enough to see the Rapture in, it appears he went ahead of me. That’s okay, I’ll see him soon enough...
Read “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”.
Or not.
I don’t understand the first line..
He was not alone, was he?
I think that she was alluding to the fact that he was the only one dying -- even surrounded by family, he made that journey alone.
Oh, I see!
A jouney we all will make someday.
It is a wonderful story of love..
Thank you for sharing it with us!
The beautiful visions before death, yes. Her Dad wasn't the first and likely won't be the last to have them.
I don’t think that is the point of the story - who jilted Granny?
I get it. My dad was also in a coma at the end. I listened to him breath for what seemed like forever. I lived in his hospital room with him for 10 days, waiting for the for the unspeakable to happen. My dad would not hear of hospice. He fought till the end, and I was his cheerleader. It was just the two of us. I rarely left his side, but he seemed very much alone during this time.
Please accept my condolences for your loss.
I lost my Dad a year ago this past January.
I understand what you mean, as that had been his case too.
It is a journey that every one of us will face alone.
When I first read the piece, the meaning of that first sentence escaped me.
For Christians, it’s a sad time, too, to be separated for a while, but it’s offset by the knowledge of the coming reunion soon...
They’ve gone on a trip ahead of us.
I know that some people think these are simply “words” meant to make it easier for the time-being. But, not really..., it’s a very real thing and it’s what will happen with anyone who is a Christian. I wouldn’t bother with mere words, if they didn’t contain absolute truth, according to the absolute, inerrant and infallible Word of God...
I'm sorry, I hadn't read the book -- I just looked it up when you mentioned it and that was the strongest impression of one of the readers -- the visions before death -- and that's what I thought you were referring to.
Not a book - a five-minute read.
http://people.morrisville.edu/~whitnemr/html/The%20Jilting%20of%20Granny%20Weatherall.htm
I lay awake at night & that is just what I think. I pray quite a bit too which helps. I never thought I would lose my parents & my siblings so early. Your words give me comfort, thanks.
I’m sorry for all of your losses. It’s hard to lose a parent, no matter when or how.
I lost my own beloved father nine years ago at age 93. But my experience of his death was very different. I was 3000 miles away when I got the call that he had passed. And for his sake, not mine, I was glad that he was finely free of being bedridden, unable to move, speak or eat, for nearly nine months before he died.
In some ways, my friend’s father’s death was more real to me because I was there, in the background when she was going through this.
Her dad was out supervising the felling of a tree in her yard on Tuesday, but complained of a back ache that night. Within two days, he as paralyzed and they discovered he had bone cancer that was terminal and eating through his spine. By Sunday, he was gone.
Her dad asked to go to her house and she agreed that she wanted him to die there — the family gathering place — even though everyone in her family thought that she was crazy and that she would never be able to walk though her living room without thinking of his death there. Now, no one doubts that it was the right thing to do. And as sad as it was, it was also beautiful.
There are some elements of tradition that sustain us through times like that — surrounded by loved ones in a familiar place as you enter into the world and if possible, the same loving cradle when you die. I am very sorry that I was not able to give that to my own father, because he certainly deserved it.
I’m so sorry about your dad. It’s been 2 1/2 years for me. Amazing how reading this brought it all flooding back.
Thank you.
Yes, it brings it all flooding back, but then too, it brought alot of smiles about stuff he did when I was growing up.
He taught me how to drive a Jeep that had a stick shift.
When the drving lesson was over, he would get out of the Jeep, and kiss the ground, the front porch, etc...and thank the Lord for his life!
*smiling*
We need to remind ourselves of the joy of having them, too!
My parents divorced when I was young, and things were not great between us. We discovered an appreciation for each other later in life, after my husband got out of the military. We had ten years of really enjoying each other, and I’m so greatful, that we moved back home and shared our daughter with him. He was only 65 when he left us.
Sounds like your dad was a really great guy!
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