What made me happy today - actually last night - also made me sad.   My father has been in very poor and deteriorating health for at least a couple of years and his quality of life had become increasingly poor (macular degeneration, poorer and poorer hearing, asthma and restrictive lung disease, complications from hip replacements leading to poor mobility).   To see a formerly athletic, intelligent, educated man, who was accustomed to being in leadership roles and very active, deteriorate so much in his last 5 to 10 years has been very sad and frustrating for all concerned, not to mention placing a heavier and heavier burden on my mom, who is now 91.    After being officially on "hospice" status at home for the past 15 mo. or so, he finally passed on, very peacefully last night, just 2 months shy of his 92nd birthday, with my mom and my sister (who is also his family physician) at his side.

We will all miss him, and I am concerned for my mom's transition to not having him around after almost 75 years together and 70 years of married life.   But on the whole this is a relief to all of us, including my dad, and a welcome transition.   He is at peace now and the happiness we feel is the sort so beautifully expressed in this song:
"Flyin' Shoes" by Terry Pinnegar

Genie