I flew here one week ago to help out with my mom. We knew she was in trouble, healthwise, and we knew she was pushing her luck for the umpteenth time by refusing (out of laziness, weariness, or resignation) some proportion of the medical care she needed. We knew that one day her luck would run out.
The point of my visit was to help my sister help my mom. Suzanne had been shouldering most of the burden as usual and needed a break. She had a big week coming up at work. I was extremely busy too as usual but arranged to come for one week. As it turns out, it was just the right time, and just the right amount of time, to
- have a final few coherent interactions with my mom;
- get her to the hospital;
- be there when she died;
- make a lot of calls to friends and relatives;
- go through her house and pick out the few things that I wanted; and
- attend her moving and ultimately joyous funeral.
Now here I am, headed home exactly on schedule, no muss, no fuss. As I said, strange.