*A Thought

Pippin: I didn't think it would end this way.
Gandalf: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path... One that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass... And then you see it.
Pippin: What? Gandalf?... See what?
Gandalf: White shores... and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
Pippin: Well, that isn't so bad.
Gandalf: No... No it isn't.



A patient passed away on the floor today.
It's actually the first time a death has occurred while I've been on the ward.
I've come in after a death has happened, but not during.
A family member came up to me and through tears and a choked up voice said, "Someone needs to pronounce ... dead for the funeral home."
At first I sat there and couldn't really articulate words or think of what to say, so the first thing that came out of my mouth was unfortunately - "What?"
He was forced to repeat the request, and could barely manage to get the words out the second time around.
But a nurse overheard the second time around, and intervened mercifully.
I stamped up the death certificate and forms and carried it down to bed booking.
And every step I took, to the elevator, out of it, down a couple halls, takes my one step closer to death. Every second that passes, every breath I inhale and exhale delivers me nearer and nearer to that final destination point.
It's the inevitable end [and beginning] that we all must face.

So death isn't the closing of a book, it's the next chapter, it's the door into another life, it's the grey curtain that we pass through and emerge in another place.

And now...I feel as though I must run out and away, and experience every single thing that a human person can know. I must discover new lands and new peoples, I must breathe in life, and live it to the fullest extent possible. I must make every second count.