Death is all around us

And in so many ways.

Plants die. My nice pots of petunias are starting to look very tired. Maybe it is time to send them to the composter.

Animals die. Animal friends only live for a certain length of time. We enjoy them while we have them around.

Friends and family members die and some of them die much too young.

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One of the blogs I read regularly had mention 2 years ago of a son who had died suddenly. Nothing more was said for a long time. Eventually it came out that the son had committed suicide. The last two years have been a real struggle for the mom and the rest of the family and friends of the young man. It is a long and difficult journey. She shares openly about her struggles on her blog and friends encourage her along the way.

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A fellow I worked with finally got married and it was a real delight. She was pregnant. The baby died before she was born. They are Catholic so they had a service for her. Some time later she got pregnant again. The baby lived and grew up. I saw mom and dad and the daughter together often. It was good.

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I have a good friend who has always been single and she has no kids. Her sisters do so she is an aunt many times over. The sister she is closest to had two boys and they were growing up. The older one got married and the younger one was getting along with his life. A week after the older son’s wedding the younger son committed suicide. The family and friends were devastated. The dad is a long time member of Alcoholics Anonymous and to his credit he never touched a drink during this difficult time.

Some years later the couple put up a stained glass window in their home church in honour of their son.

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I went to a funeral for the elderly dad of a good friend. I had not known him personally but only through her. He had lived a good long life. At the service was a young woman with the older man’s great grandchild. Life goes on.

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Life and death are all around us. Later on this fall I will be attending a workshop on Befriending Death - more to follow later.