4 Generations

Last night Nathan met his great-grandma Slovacek for the first and most likely last time. As we sat there with four generations in the nursing home I couldn't help but think about one life just beginning as another was ending. Joel's grandma is slipping away. She's been suffering from Alzheimer's for quite a few years and this past week she fell and broke her hip. You could argue that she's been gone for a long time and that her body is finally being put to rest. Her moments on this earth can now be measured in days and possibly hours.
Since last night I have been pondering about the topic of death. It sounds morbid, but there is something so mysterious and complex about death and yet it is so simple at the same time. When someone dies that we love or have known there is always a sense of loss. Even when we don't know them personally, stories of people losing their life touch us. We focus on it a lot- if you watch the news there are always stories detailing a natural disaster or accident, and the number of lives lost are always listed as almost a measure of the significance of the event. When someone else dies it reminds us of our own mortality and how quickly we can lose it. It makes us (hopefully) want to make our time here on earth more meaningful and live it to the fullest. It reminds us of how much we love those around us. I felt the same way when my Grammy Stuetz died when I was a Freshman in high school.
In cases such as Grandma Slovacek & Grammy Stuetz it's kind of an odd feeling to want them to die quickly without pain and yet still be holding on. You know that it is for the best and wish them well, but somehow their missing presence leaves a vacancy in your life. I think that the knowledge that they are going to a better place to be with their family that has already passed on makes the sense of loss not only manageable but a calming, peaceful reassurance.
I was listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing "Come, Come Ye Saints" today in conference and because of these previous meditations the last verse really touched me:

And Should we die before our journey ends, Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too; With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again to see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell- All is well! All is well!