Rebecca Mongrain's Blog

Reflections on Dying

My Grandfather is dying. He's not expected to last the week.

It's a slow death and it's hard to watch. He was once a vibrant, entergetic man who stretched my mind to its limit with his cunning ways. Now he's just an old man lying in a hospital bed with his family gathered around.

Each breath could be his last, each gasp the end.

He is a good man. All the nurses like him. They say that even at his worst, he's been quite polite.

While I'm prepared for his death, I wasn't prepared for the pain of watching him die.

I've never seen anyone die. I've seen plenty of bodies after working in a funeral home but their spirits were already gone. I've never seen a spirit fight to break free from its physical bonds. It's a journey that one can only take alone though a hand holding yours does help make the trip more pleasant.

I hope his journey is as nice as it can be. He deserves all the comfort we can give him. I just hope he knows how much he is loved even with all the eye rolling he caused us. It just made it all the more interesting.