At Easter dinner, I heard a story that made me stop. And be still.
When my husband and I were engaged, his grandmother was dying of cancer. And two weeks before our wedding, she passed away in the dining room, set up like a hospital room, in my mother-in-law’s home.
On the evening she died, not knowing this would be her last day on earth, my husband was playing golf. And on the 18th green, he looked up and noticed that the sunset was more beautiful than he had ever seen before. Such colors. Deep gold and pale yellow. Baby blue and magenta. Aqua and emerald, melting together behind silhouettes of fall trees reaching up to the horizon, as if they were praying for strength to make it through another harsh winter.
He knew in that instant that Flo was gone.
Flo had suffered with cancer for more than 5 years. The doctor asked my mother-in-law whether she thought she could take her home.
She said yes.
The feeding tube was removed and Flo was taken to Wildthorne Lane.
When we hear that Terri Schiavo is gone, we will hear the black art of voices from blondes and brunettes, superimposed before a peacock logo. Yellow copy streaming to the left warning of higher gas prices and falling poll numbers. We might notice a typo as they break for commercial. Some spot pushing a sexy black Mercedes or a little yellow pill to make us happy.
I pray that Terri Schiavo’s family has silence in that moment to notice the magic around them. That they can block out the voices, like barking dobermans, they have let into their lives.
I hope in that moment they can stop. And be still.
It's me....all I know is the moment that I learned Terri passed away - I felt a sense of sadness and also a sense of relief...At the moment she passed away the sky was dark, cloudy and gray - the following day - the skies above me were so blue, cloudless and beautiful....A sense of peace came over me....she was finally at peace....I felt this was her way of saying, "I am okay, go about your lives. Thank you for praying and loving me..I am really okay now." I, for
the first time in weeks-months-years, felt like she was - In Loving Memory of Terri.
Posted by: Susan | April 13, 2005 at 11:44 AM