How poignant. Approaching 75 yrs, I can understand. In my most severe case, it was a woman who has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, who wrote to me, "I can't remember who you are."
Each 30 December, Facebook sends me a reminder that it's my cousin Tommy's birthday. Of course I know that. He was more brother than cousin. So I respond with a birthday wish, saying how much I wished he was still alive. It's silly, I know, but I'll be sad when Facebook shuts down his account. I really hate goodbyes.
So much uncertainty pervades our lives that it seems pointless to invest goodbyes with any kind of expectation unless death is imminent. My desire to see the other person again varies, but even when it’s weak I’m more comfortable leaving without assumptions. It’s the departures without goodbyes that are painful. I had a few when I was younger but now they’re coming steadily. A terminal cancer diagnosis followed swiftly by MAID. Complications from surgery. Deaths when I hadn’t heard they werr ill. A life ended after months of unresponsiveness following a stroke. The suicide of an old friend and colleague, seemingly content and full of plans for the future. Each of them leaves an empty space — the goodbye space, the one that will never be filled.
How poignant. Approaching 75 yrs, I can understand. In my most severe case, it was a woman who has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, who wrote to me, "I can't remember who you are."
Each 30 December, Facebook sends me a reminder that it's my cousin Tommy's birthday. Of course I know that. He was more brother than cousin. So I respond with a birthday wish, saying how much I wished he was still alive. It's silly, I know, but I'll be sad when Facebook shuts down his account. I really hate goodbyes.
So much uncertainty pervades our lives that it seems pointless to invest goodbyes with any kind of expectation unless death is imminent. My desire to see the other person again varies, but even when it’s weak I’m more comfortable leaving without assumptions. It’s the departures without goodbyes that are painful. I had a few when I was younger but now they’re coming steadily. A terminal cancer diagnosis followed swiftly by MAID. Complications from surgery. Deaths when I hadn’t heard they werr ill. A life ended after months of unresponsiveness following a stroke. The suicide of an old friend and colleague, seemingly content and full of plans for the future. Each of them leaves an empty space — the goodbye space, the one that will never be filled.
best ‘writing’ I’ve read in way far too long ..
I write about such ‘stuff of life’ daily..
or at least try to..
I’m currently deep in such diving in Erin Township, Banff
University of Guelph, & have my hash pipe lit..
You gots ‘lightning bugs’ in the bottle here..
I do the same.. and can’t find a lid for it
.. or want to ..