It's hard to know what to say to you,  it must have been life changing to have been there with her.

I can't really imagine how it felt to help her cross over dharma...

for all the years I've lived,  I still haven't been with someone when they breathed their last breath.

I think it did, Elie.  I think that she was just waiting for someone to get there to be with her. 

I think that it WILL turn out to be a life changing thing, but right now it's all too new and recent to know how.  It felt......strange.  Humbling.  Very, incredibly humbling.  It was an honor to be there, of that I'm sure. 

I'm going to take a bath and think about it.  I think I'm going to be pondering this for a while - and that's a good thing.

EXACTLY.  There IS more; of that I'm absolutely positive after seeing this woman this afternoon.  Death is not the end, it's merely a pause; an intermission if you will, between the stages of the soul's cycle.

I'm feeling better about it now.  I've had a chance to think about things and it's starting to sink in.

I lost count of the amount of times I was thanked for being there this afternoon. That's not what I did it for, but it's nice to be acknowledged.

I am also convinced that this - hospice work, that is - is where I am supposed to be.  I'm MEANT to do this.

were you able to let go a bit?  I usually need a good cry after an emotional upset.

The closest I've ever come to what you've experienced is being the one chosen to clean and prepare the patient right after she passed,  so the funeral home could pick her up.  

I'm telling you dharma,  that room had an aura in it,  a silence that sunk into every pore.  It was a feeling of something so strange....hard to explain.

She had a skin condition called "ick"  which is different, I think,  than from what fish get.  Her skin was scaly and the other nurse's aids didn't want to touch her.  So wrong that was.  It wasn't contagious that I know of.

  I'm MEANT to do this.  Yes you are dharma,  you're the right person for this.  thank God for that and you.

Yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  It's hard to explain, and I don't think I'll ever forget it.  It was a very holy experience.

I cried in the truck on the way home, and I cried when I was talking to Dave about what happened.  I let some of it go, and I'm feeling much better now.

Your article contains a powerful message, but your writing style made it poetic and a thing to behold, not shun.  It is sad and poignant, but at the same time encouraging.

Thank you for sharing.

I think so.  You know, Jill, even though she was unresponsive when I got there, it was still very apparent that there was a human being with a soul in that bed.  About 20 minutes after she had died, though, it was very apparent that it wasn't 'her' anymore.  You could tell that 'she' had left and that all that was left was a shell that housed her spirit for a while. It was an incredible experience, and this morning I'm considering myself very fortunate to have been able to be there.

Yes, they are.  They are the only two things that a person has to do alone.  We can keep the departing company for a while, but actually leaving is something that they have to do alone.

Thank you.  I honestly don't think that death SHOULD be shunned - it's a normal, natural part of life and we should be embracing and almost celebrating it instead of shutting it away.  

Thanks, Mason.  That's very meaningful, coming from you.

Thank you.  I hope so too.