Posted by Cass on November 26, 2004, at 22:59:30
I know a man who's in his upper 80s. He's always been amazingly vital, active, alert and intellectually stimulated. Most importantly, he's is probably the kindest, most ethical, sincere and authentic person I've ever known. Now he's in the hospital having had 2 small strokes or TIAs.
He was doing very well during our visit. He was upbeat and joking around and we even took a walk. The last time he tried to go home, he only lasted a couple hours, then he had another TIA. So the fear of his friends and family is that if he goes home again he'll have another stroke.
In a way, I feel like I need to prepare myself to say good-bye, but another part of me thinks about how alive and alert he was during our visit, and I think, wow, he'll be okay!!
I've told him on many occassions that I love him, and that he's very special to me, but I don't think I've ever really spelled it out to him in great detail.
I come from a very unhealthy family background. There was a lot of dishonesty, duplicity, deviousness and malice, so I used to be sort of cynical about people. People like him allowed me to prove to myself that the cynisism wasn't entirely justified.
I love this man. In him, I see the best parts of myself.
I just needed to write about this.
poster:Cass
thread:420757
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/grief/20040811/msgs/420757.html