Still Breathing

Over the past couple of days, I’ve spent the vast majority of my waking hours in my dad’s hospice room. While friends, relatives, and hospice workers have dropped by, the fact of the matter is that it’s not the most exciting place to spend your time… especially when the patient is comatose.

Right now, the smart money says that my dad will stop breathing today (Saturday). While there is a chance he’ll go until Sunday, and perhaps even up to two weeks, most of the people who see the dying on a daily basis are placing his time as nigh.

I’ve been trying to do all of the necessary prep work for the funeral, the various services, and whatnot. This has been helped greatly by the fact that my dad already paid for his funeral stuff. I haven’t gotten hot and heavy with the nuts and bolts of it (that will be today’s project) but it looks like everything major has been arranged. As Forrest Gump would say: "That’s good. One less thang."

Even so, this is going to be a long week. Not only will we have the big death (probably) and the big funeral, but my mom, brother, and I have to start getting the items for the next week’s turkey day. After that, I think I’m just going to veg. I’ll tend to my brother’s birthday in December, but other than that, we’ve all agreed that this will be a lean Christmas (aided by the fact that my brother is leaving Christmas morning for his vacation).

I’ll just be glad when this week’s circus is done. I honestly don’t get why people make such a big deal out of disposing of a used body. It just don’t make no sense. But being a dutiful son (and also being that I have absolutely no choice in the matter), I’ll play my part. Won’t that be fun?