when i was keeping vigil with my mom in the hospital for 8 days,
i read Elizabeth Kubler Ross, and some other books. One that was
the most helpful was Ran Dass' Still Here (he wrote Be Here Now)
One of the most vivid images (i have repeated this in several threads
here) was that of a person removing an uncomfortably tight shoe..
that was describing the soul leaving the body -- and it is comforting
to think that this is a relief to the one who passes on...not painful
or a struggle, but a blissful change!

I also sensed some sort of energy, sort of like a cloud or smoke,
hovering above my mother before she passed on. My dad had died
just the week before and it felt as if his spirit was visiting.
I remembered her saying that there was a book she wanted to read
"before she died" so i checked it out from the library for her.
She stayed alive longer than the medical people thought she would,
and i kept wondering "what is she waiting for?" I then realized
that maybe she sensed the absence of my daughters, her grand
daughters who were nearly 2,000 miles away. I began to make plans
for them to fly there, and when one of them was on the phone, i
held Mom's hand and told her the girls wanted her to know they loved
her. Then within a minute she took her last breath. I guess that
completed her circle.