We know that we were born to die but that does not make the parting any easier. In the short recent time several friends have lost a parent, a daughter, or a friend. My genealogy society lost a good member. It's hard, darn hart, and what to say to these friends and relatives is just as hard.
When Tika and I have occasion to send a card to a grieving friend I always enclose a copy of this story:
I am standing on the seashore. A ship spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean. I stand watching her until she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says, "She is gone." Gone where? The loss of sight is in me, not in her. Just at the moment when someone says, "She is gone," there are others who are watching her coming. Other voices take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!" And that is dying.
Somehow learning about all our ancestors' deaths isn't so painful; we really did not know them. I think I'll stick to ancestors.............. Tika too.
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