Yesterday morning, June 21st, my grandmother left this world after 89 years of doing just fine, thank you very much.

As y’all know from my previous post, this was not a surprise. She’s been failing for more than a month now, the stress of having her move from her home of 27 years into an assisted living apartment was too much. She moved, spent one night there, and then had a seizure and went into various hospital facilities as her health declined.

She believed strongly in dying a ‘good death’ and long ago had created a living will indicating that she did not want feeding tubes or resuscitating IVs if her mental state was poor (or absent). That was a blessing for the family because we could honor her wishes, knowing precisely what they were, and save ourselves from heroic measures that would only have prolonged the end, not prevented it.

Hospice nurses were there through her final weeks, making sure she was comfortable and not being given drugs or care that would have caused her further trauma. At the end, she was peaceful. She just slipped away.

The whole family here is off to separate places tomorrow. Sasha to Soos Creek while John is away, he’s off to Atlanta for business, and I’m on my way to Philadelphia for a few days and then on to San Diego for an HR conference. We’ll be apart for the longest time since we started dating — an entire week.

There is a strong potential for serious family drama, so I’m packing my calming crystal necklace and doing some prep work along the lines of being a Priestess/Counselor rather than (just) a member of the family.

It’s just a tad crazy around here. Here’s hoping July is a lot calmer. Busy, but calmer.