I truly do appreciate everyone's words. My head knows I'm not the only one to have gone through this, but my heart just knows that the world is a lonelier place. I just received the call from Patty, his second wife. She was holding Dad's hand while he slept. He simply took a breath, and then didn't take another. He's now at peace, something that's eluded him for years. In a way, I am too.
I couldn't decide earlier whether to post anything or not. Part of me didn't want to sidetrack the thread. But I remembered one of the things my dad taught me about being responsible: when people rightfully expect something of me, it's my responsbility to tell them if I won't be able to meet those expectations, and that I should explain why. The size of the expectation didn't matter either. He believed, as do I, that when everything is boiled down, all we really have to offer anyone else is our word. Without it, we don't have anything else to give.
He also taught me that how we choose to live our lives is also how we honor our ancestors.
So now you know the reasons why I chose to go ahead and post. I'd say sorry to Bill for going off topic, except he'd just tell me hogwash...
Bill, I don't have any brothers, nor sisters. If I did have a brother, I would hope he would have many of the qualities you have. You've been a good friend to me.
CPF truly has been a ray of light for me these past few months. I have a book of daily meditations that has an anonymous quote for one day, my birthday of all days, that I've held close to my heart for close to 2 decades. It's pertinent to CPF, and especially after the last several posts in this thread:
All the darkness in the entire world is not enough to snuff out the light of one tiny candle.
While I'm not about to try to dictate how this thread should go (what a futile effort that would be /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif), thanks in advance to whoever brings us back on topic.
