#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Debbie, Aunt Dot, Uncle Bob

My sister and I woke early at the hotel, drove the few minutes back to the Assisted Living facility where my daughter Perri had stayed all night with Aunt Dot. Just before we arrived Perri said she seemed to shift into a deeper rest after a night of some restlessness. I sensed how close she was, she had been doing the hard work of transitioning all night. At one point Perri said aunt Dot said, “I can’t do it.” And Perri said what the doula would say to the laboring mother: “Yes you can. You’re doing great.” So we at with Aunt Dot, I said some things to her about how much love she’d given and how much she had changed the lives of loved ones who needed her. Her sister arrived and we sat a little longer and then we left, knowing she would be with her sister. I whispered my last words of goodbye to Aunt Dot, into her ear, my private thank you and gratitude. And then we left. Once home, two hours later, her sister called to say that she had passed. And now they are together again, Dottie and Bob and Debbie. I very much believe they are together and they are happy to be together. They have missed each other. And that’s my joy. Knowing they are together. How grateful I have been to have all three of them in my life.