Things To Be Glad About

If Dad had to go (and I guess he did), there are a few things I'm glad about how he went.

#1 - Honestly, I'm glad he went first. Nobody expected that to be the case with my mom having cancer but I realize it's for the best that it happened this way. I know my mom is so sad that he's gone but when I think of how things would be if Dad were the one left behind, it's not a pretty picture. Dad wouldn't have been able to reach out and rely on other people the way my mom can. The idea of him standing in a line at a viewing, thanking people for coming would be laughable if it weren't so sad. When it comes right down to it, Mom is more capable of handling being alone than Dad would have been. It's good he went first.

#2 - I'm glad he went quickly. One moment he was here and the next, he was entirely gone. There was no lingering, no waiting around. Dad was not what we experts refer to as "patient." He was entirely unsuited to die slowly and, I think, was afraid of doing just that. I know for a fact that the idea of being put in a home or languishing while being unable to do things for himself would have been his personal idea of hell. As was his way, when he was ready to go, he went.

#3 - I'm glad he went while doing something he loved. I think it would have made him mad if he had passed away in his sleep or watching TV. (Although maybe watching Law and Order would have qualified as doing something he loved.) He died while working, with bits and pieces of plumbing stuff in his hands. I know he didn't want to die and certainly wouldn't have wanted to die in front of me, but I also know that, if he had to pick, leaving while doing something useful, productive, and helpful is something that would have satisfied him.