The Kiss Heard Round the Room!

It was a few days before my 48th birthday and we were all gathered in my dad’s hospice room. Myself and my two siblings, my mom, nieces, nephews, cousins, about fifteen of us. A hospice chaplain was speaking with us as my dad lay motionless in the bed. The effect of the morphine giving at the end of life.

My mom stepped out of the room to speak with one of the nurses and to sign some paperwork. The rest of us continued chatting and telling stories about my dad. He had little to no reaction, but we knew the old guy was listening.

As my mom entered the room, she spoke to us and my dad’s vitals raised noticeably. She made her way through the room and stood at my dad’s right side. She turned to look at him and my dad sat up as far as he could, stretched his lips to cartoonish length and laid one on my mom. His final energy spent kissing the woman he had loved for almost six decades.

The room fell silent as we let the pure moment sink in. My mom stood looking at my dad, hand on his shoulder with gratitude and love. That was the last real interaction we had with him. He laid motionless and withering, the only noise was an occasional slow low groan of pain, which was met with a dose of morphine.

He passed away a few days later, the day before my birthday. He did it his way up to the end!

Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

But his delight is in the Law of the Lord,

And on His Law he meditates day and night.

He will be like a tree planted by ]streams of water,

Which yields its fruit in its season,

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

Happy Honeymooning!