A Good Death After A Very Good Life

My mom passed away this past Thursday, and as completely sad as it is for those of us who loved her and miss her terribly, I am very happy for her. She's no longer living in a body that had ceased to work and now she's at peace.

When she entered the hospital almost three weeks ago and all her grandchildren arrived, none of us had any idea that it would be the last time they would see her. We are all beyond grateful that she did get to see them and they her. We all had that time to laugh and share and tell one another how much we loved each other.

A few days after they left it became evident she wasn't going to get well, and a week ago I called my brother to return.

My brother Mark and I spent an entire week together in this very precious cocoon saying goodbye to our mom and holding each other up in the process.

We developed a routine over the week he was here of going to the hospital twice a day, making dinner late in the evening, and sitting - talking, watching "The Daily Show" and "Colbert Report," heading to bed and starting it all over the next day. We'd hold our mom's hands, give her sips of water, and just wait. In between we dealt with the realities of knowing she was going to die taking care of her house, her finances and yes, her cat. I can't imagine how only children do it all, or those who don't see eye to eye. There wasn't one issue we had to deal with that we disagreed about, there were no power struggles and no egos fighting for the driver's seat.

My mother showed more grace and courage through this process than I could ever think to muster. It shouldn't surprise me, because she faced everything in her life that way.

This loss is still very fresh and raw right now, but we're all doing pretty well. My brother has gone back to his life in New York, and I am looking once again at deadlines and surfing the Web for information for my columns. The sacred bubble we lived in for that one sad, sweet week has been broken, but we'll never forget the time we had together, and the way we helped ease our mom from her life on this plane to the next. After all she'd given us throughout our lives we wouldn't have had it any other way.