do not go gentle into that good night

Thank you all for your lovely comments and prayers, one of my absolutely favorite things about this blog is the connections it brings to people around the world.  So thanks for reading and commenting, it is wonderful to know there are people out there thinking about my Grandma.

As of the latest update, my Grandma is still hanging on to life.  Once again she has defied expectations of how long her life should be.  Expectations were originally for her to only make it to the weekend, then news of my uncle Dan flying back from Afghanistan on Monday, led me to think she would make to till then.  This morning she is still with us, running a fever and occasionally her breathing stops, only to return again.

While plans continue to shift and change and I still don’t know what my week will look like, I think of my Grandma in that bed, in that hospital in Lancaster and there while it is clear she is coming to the end of her road, she still is staying firm and planted.  In these past few days she has been surrounded by her children, heard the announced engagement of one of her grandchildren, and received phone calls from great-grandchildren. While she doesn’t seem to be fighting this end of one life and is probably anticipating release from her physical body, she isn’t just giving in.  I think she will find her own time and her own hour to finally slip away and until then, she reminds me of Dylan Thomas’s poem about living fully until the moment of death.

Also for a truly wonderful description of my Grandma’s life, I direct you to this post by my cousin.  It captures much of what I find so impressive about my Grandma.