An answer to a question

Several of you good friends asked me some details on how my mother was the last few months of her life. Here is my first attempt to answer that question. I may try writing again later. Then again I may not. Death is a fasinating event in life. It is facinating because death to a believer is not really death- it is the beginning of life eternal. A wise man once said to me that every one dies the way they lived. I think it's very true. My father died when he was 51, my mother was 46 and I was 21. It was his first sickness, he was sick for 6 months and he died. My father was my best friend ( he often called me "my friend") and his death turned my world up side down and I was filled with fear. My mother gave me a gift of scripture which is - Pslam 125:1-2 " Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion which can not be moved,but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people; from this time on and forevermore". Mom and I often recite these two verses to each other over the years following father's death. Reciting this Psalm to one another was our best way of comforting each other because this is a reminder of God's presences and protection in and for our lives. We did it in person, and through the letters and over the phone. As she was dying I had my brother read this Psalm to her many times. The last time she heard it read to her was a few hours before she died. My brother read the psalm and I prayed over the speaker phone with all my siblings and a few others in her hospital room. I heard my mother breathing for the last time over the phone and I heard silent. Silent was followed by peace in the midst of my younger siblings crying there. Peace that she has gone home to God. Father, Richard ( my baby brother who died at age 4) and her own parents were glad to see her I am sure. All I could imagine was my mother dancing up into the heavens where God has prepared a room for her. Life was good for her for many years, almost 73 years. She was beautiful, loved by many people, spoiled to perfect rottenness by my father at first and then by me and then by my younger siblings. She was a champion at spoiling grandchildren. My father was a soldier in the army but my mother was the general at home. She was a disciplinary parent. Speaking of my parents, they had an arranged marriage by his family and hers. They saw each other twice before their wedding. Then they fell in love terribly with each other. As far as I can remember- they were like two teen age kids just fallen in love with each other. They were so happy to be together. It was in their relationship that I first saw what two people in love look like. She really missed him for all those years. Mom beat lung cancer in 1999 and lived almost 10 years after that and had a full life with grand-kids and all. This time she told us that it's time. She has missed dad so very much for too many years. She was not about to fight this tumor again. We each cried to her begging her to get the regiment of treatments started. She was clear as to saying, "No". So we honored her wishes although we wished differently. Back to dad, how do you talk about your mother without talking about him too? My father was our Christian educator. We lived in the interfaith community at all times. He led us in family devotion every night after dinner. He would teach us one Psalm after another. He taught us hymns and how to pray. We would memorize the Psalms. Our family Psalm is the 23rd. The Bible was our bed time story book. Dad would read stories from the Bible at bed time to all of us including mom. Back to Psalm 23- we recited it every evening as a family. So, it was read at mom's funeral. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want..... in the house of the Lord forever". Well, my mother is not in want of any thing including good health because she is now healthy and whole dwelling in the house of the Lord ( her Lord) forever. Thanks be to God for this woman I call "kanu (my mother)" who lived, loved, and now lives eternally with God.