On life

My father's health has taken a rapid and steep downward turn. Yet, he seems so peaceful. I know he's had a lot of time to be introspective as he was diagnosed over two years ago, but I'm just not sure that I could handle dying with such grace. If I would be celebrating a good life.
My husband was telling me about being at my parents' house last night and my father receiving a phone call from an old buddy who was looking to go skiing. He told his buddy that he wasn't going to be skiing and that he was just going to stay at home and die. If you didn't know my dad you'd find his candor a bit odd, but "it's Bob". The candor wasn't what struck me about the conversation, what struck me was that my father, after that comment, was comforting both his friend and his friend's wife. He was soothing their grief. It amazes me that this has been his behavior from the entire time, consoling others about their lose.
My dad and I had to laugh last week when he and I were talking about the funeral and how he had reconnected with Father Jerry Sullivan from St. Thomas. He'd been thinking about how great it was going to be to see Jerry at the funeral, but then was reminded that he wouldn't see him because he'd be dead. We had a pretty good laugh about that one. And then I shared the story with my uncle Albert and we had a really good laugh.
My father is still in charge, he's assigned tasks to people that they are good at and he's giving them an opportunity to process their grief and be a part of his passing just as they were a part of his life.