Farewell

I don't usually take on very serious subjects on this blog but tonight I must.  Thursday, January 23 my dear brother John died.  He was ready to go after a rather brief but intense struggle with blood infections, kidney failure and cirrhosis of the liver.  He also had a pacemaker and defibrillator.  So, a "perfect storm" of problems came together and he died.  But what I really want to comment on here is the good.  From his vision of Jesus that he told us about to the way his family rallied round, there was a lot of love flowing.  The nurses and doctors at Parkview on Dupont were very good and the nurses at the Randallia campus hospice care center were simply wonderful.  It was such a peaceful, comfortable place to spend our last hours with him.  He was quite adamant that he didn't want any kind of memorial service so we honored that request, although we will have a very quiet family-only brief service when his urn is interred in the columbarium at First Presbyterian Church.  Several friends have been surprised that he didn't want a memorial service but when I have explained that he just wanted people to remember him as he was, and the good times, they all understood.  I personally am so thankful that we had a great visit with his daughter and grandson and their families at Thanksgiving.  Two memories of John that I will always cling to; him holding me tight as I sobbed when our mother died many years ago, and fourteen years ago, when my husband died, standing behind me with my other brother and singing "How Great Thou Art" so powerfully that it held me up and carried me through that service.
I will miss our shared childhood memories, frequent lunches at Bob Evans, our daily morning and evening texts to make sure we were each OK and so much more.  Rest well my brother, my life-long friend.