One Foot in This World, One Foot in the Next

Sunday, April 3, 2011

I remember sitting on my Dad's living room sofa just this Sunday passed. I was listening to him breathe, pulling, with his oxygen on, in his hospital bed. I was reading through the hospice booklets. I had just gotten off work and came to see and stay with him for I knew the time was close. It was one of the most difficult emotional days I had to get through while trying to focus on patient care for 12 hours. Little did I know, but still sensed, my Dad would die tomorrow. The hospice literature talked about the dying having one foot in this world and one foot in the next. Another vision they expressed was  that of a sailboat riding into the horizon and sunset. From our side we were saying "There he goes...bye..bye..". From the spiritual side, heaven, the hereafter, family long gone, army buddies, they were saying, "Here he comes...it's him at last"!

                                                         1-08-2011

That thought helped me as I slipped into a pair of his pajamas and grabbed a blanket to keep vigil with him thoughout the night. In the morning I would bathe him. We were both exhausted. I simply told him as I kissed him on the cheek, "Mahala loves her Daddy". His eyebrows raised and he actively squeezed my hand in his when I took his hand in mine and I laid my head on his shoulder to sleep.